Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 March 1941 — Page 7

SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1941

Hoosier Vagabond

LONDON (By Wireless).—I think I have enough official British credentials in my wallet to get me out of anything, up to and including assassination. Yet

in all my recent travels I have been called upon to show them only twice. Both cases were ridiculous. Once it was a matter of a nosy hotel clerk in Wales. The other instance was in the peaceful Cotswold Hills of Gloucestershire. There I had to identify myself in a big way before being allowed to see a communal dining room for evacuees. You could have sat Hitler down there for a meal and he wouldn't have found out anything. That's one trouble with war— the farther you are from it the sillier the people get. In most of Great Britain they are too busy to fussbudget around with red I have been amazed at the utter freedom in England today. People come and go, brag and criticize, talk and listen. It is remarkable and admirable. On gun stations, at flying fields, in pubs or on trains, I have never run into anybody who seemed suspicious or secretive. The average Englishman just cant conceive of there being a fifth column in this country, and as ‘a general premise I think he is right. In fact, in wartime England today I believe you can nose around with less bogeyman interference than you can in America. Dachshunds are still quite safe and respected in England. I wonder if they will be in America in a few more months.

Subject to the Alien Laws

In spite of being accepted everywhere over here on friendly and intimate terms, I am an American and therefore an alien, and all the alien laws apply to me. For example, it is against the law for me to have a guidebook now without a permit I am a criminal if T carrv the famous Baedeker guidebook to Great Britain, even though the thing is printed in Leipzig and the Germans have all the copies they want. Road signs have been taken down all. over England, In case of invasion. The names of towns on

tape.

Inside Indianapolis (4nd “Our Town”)

PROFILE OF THE WEEK: Augustus Kiefer Mayer, who always wears a cap to keep his bald pate warm when he's in his office at the Kiefer-Stewart Co. The first thing he does when he walks in is to remove his hat and put on his cap. Then he’s ready to perform his duties as vice president. At one time, he wore a toupee, and he used to take that off, too, before donning the cap. “Kief” Mayer will be 50 next May. He's about 5 feet 10'% inches tall, weighs around 180. His face is long and full, with a cleft chin. His head is as bald as a billiard ball, on top, with a fringe of dark hair on the sides. He looks energetic and determined, and he is. He also has a rather serious expression, belying his widspread reputation as a ruthless practical joker. He'll go to great lengths to “pull one” on his friends. An acquaintance who becomes a father is likely to receive an anonymous parcel containing anything from a gross of baby nipples to a complete outfit for a football player. Mr. Mayer virtually was born into the wholesale drug business. His grandfather, Augustus Kiefer, for whom he 1s named, was one of the founders of the company, and "Kief” started in as an errand boy. After Shortridge, he attended Phillips Exeter and Wabash. During the World War he served overseas.

A Born Salesman

“KIEF” IS A BORN SALESMAN, radiating enthusiasm and self-assurance. He's exceedingly positive in his views, and pretty frank about expressing them, too. When there's something to be done, he wants to get right at it; tomorrow won't do. He flies around the country quite a bit for his company or in the interests of the druggists’ national association, of which he used to be president. As a result, he has a wide acquaintance over the country. A pretty fair sideline politician, he's particularly adept at getting along with public officeholders and

Washington

WASHINGTON, March 15.—A good deal of effort has been made here to minimize the importance of strikes in defense industry. But factual information in the hands of officials here indicates that some most serious delays are resulting. The situation is recognized by William S. Knudsen as being more serious than he has indicated publicly. Army officers in the field are reporting back threats of new strikes in the offing. Mr. Roosevelt is under considerable pressure from various defense officials to move swiftly in creating some machinery that will remove the necessity of strikes, by providing a method of reaching settlements that will be retroactive in effect. Figures suggesting that only a fraction of 1 per cent of industry

By Ernie Pyle

public and private signs have been painted over with black paint. It is against the law to leave a car that could be driven away by the Germans. You have to immobilize your car when you leave it. Most cars over here are small ones, from eight to 15 horsepower, No new cars at all are being manufactured for sale. The price of second-hand cars is shooting up, because the army is taking all it can get. If vou wreck your car badly it is almost impossible to get repairs. Many garages and gas stations are closed. A great many garage men have gone into the tank corps. These tank corps men wear the regular brown uniform like the rest of the army, but they have a blue cloth cap, like a beret, which drops over one ear, making them look very cocky and tough,

The British Trains

During the past month I have traveled about 1500 miles by train and 500 by car, and except for small things the travel service was mighty good. In the latter part of my travels, after getting the] hang of things, I rode third-class all the time. It's about one-third cheaper, and the only difference is that the seats are just a shade nicer in first class and | vou sit with officers instead of soldiers, The railroads get a lot of criticism, but I think they are doing wonderfully. They bave not been| taken over by the government, Occasionally a section of track will be blown out. The railroads have a time limit on themselves of 10 hours, I believe it is, no matter how big the crater or how twisted the wreckage, in which to have trains moving again across the bombed spot. And the way these trains blast along through the night, with no lights, gives vou the shivers. One! road has just raised its wartime speed limit from| 60 miles an hour to 75. There is one thing abou! the British railroads] that I haven't figured out yet. You'll get on a train| that is the dinkiest local you ever saw, stopping at| every crossroads, taking hours to go few miles, Then, all of a sudden, about halfway to where vou're going, the thing mysteriously becomes a highball express and makes the last half of the trip just going like hell, roaring through cities without even stopping. I suppose it's just a change of pace to fool Mr. Hitler.

perhaps selling them his views, He loves to tell of the time he, Lou Borinstein and Bill Book spent an afternoon talking to the Center Township Assessor, back in the depression days. Mr. Mayer “pulled out all the stops” in describing the plight of the poor) property owner and, before the group walked out. the | assessor had agreed to a horizontal 20 per cent cut] in assessments, much to the consternation of the tax spenders. | When he wants to find out something, vou might as well break down and tell him. He'll find out any way. His technique, although nettling, is always effec- | tive. For instance, if there's been a secret meeting) and he wants to know what went on, he'll wait| until he's with one of the group that met. Then, in| his most positive way, he'll relate some fantastic | account of the happenings. Almost invariably. the! victim breaks down and “tells all,” to prove “Kief”| wrong.

Horses—Horses—Horses!

FOR YEARS HE HAS suffered with hay fever, and he's a sucker for any and every remedy that comes on | the market. He's been virtually a one-man ‘guinea pig” tor all hay fever remedies. Moderate in his eating habits, he's somewhat of a! vegetarian. He smokes a pipe and cigars incessantly, always using non-nicotine tobacco. A ‘nut’ on airconditioning, he has half a dozen different types of | units in his room at home. The walls of the room| are almost completely covered with pictures of his] friends, horses and football teams. He's pretty regular | in his sleeping habits, likes to get to bed by 9 and| be up at 6 a. m,

His principal hobby is horseback riding, at the! Traders Point Hunt Club. He owns two riding horses, | Gray Boy, a gray gelding, and General Mitchell, an | elderly Irish hunter. “Kief” is inordinately proud of | them, and insists they're the most wonderful horses | in the world. If he could, he'd provide cach of them | with an innerspring mattress, His summer vacations usually are spent at Lake] Walloon, Mich, He always drives up. and he even takes one of the horses along in a trailer back of the car.

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By Raymond Clapper

| electricians—has tied up work on a wind tunnel. That | may not seem important. But there is not a wind | tunnel in this country capable of being used for test- | ing airplane frames for the new high-power engines | that are being tried out. he Allis-Chaimers strike at Milwaukee has been | going on since Jan. 22. Tf work were resumed tomor- | row, it would take three months to catch up. The| destroyer program is being delayed by this strike, Tt also is delaying the powder program. A great cere-| mony is being made of the opening this week of the | Hercules powder plant at Radford, Va., erected three months ahead of schedule. But it is not completed. | Allis-Chalmers is making the turbo-generators for this plant. One was finished and has been installed. Three more are being held up by the strike,

Ammunition Output Delayed

I MENTIONED the little strike at Bridgeville, Pa. | which was delaying the fuse program. It also is de-|

{| Copyright

| moth

| on its own for weeks

Poss

The Indianapolis Times

SECOND SECTION

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Singapore-Key to Asia

By A. T. STEELE 1041, by The Indianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Ine.

INGAPORE, March 15.-—Japan right now is like a child who has two gorgeous Christmas boxes and doesn't know which to open

first. One of the prize packages is the Dutch East Indies, with its rubber

and tin and oil : The other is British Malaya,

probably the richest 52,000 square miles of territory in the whole Far East with only some 5,500,000 persons to be held in check. Here are the treasure chests on which the Japanese yearn to lay hancs. Why don’t they? Singapore! n

Man-Made Canyon

ITH a British naval officer as my escort, I toured the four square miles of made-over swamp land which is today the greatest naval dockyard in Asia outside the island of Japan. There is nothing very spectacular about a naval base except when the fleet. is in—and Singapore 1s no exception. Great cranes, towering radio masts and the funnels of docked ships provide the only breaks in an otherwise flat skvline But one feature that makes you gasp is the tremendous George Vi graving dock, the nearest thing to a man-made Grand Canyon I have ever seen. This great con-crete-lined cavity is a fifth of a mile long, 130 feet wide and 35 feet deep. It can accommodate any ship afloat, Coolies labored years and removed millions of cubic yards of mud and earth to complete it. Nearby in the channel is a mamfloating dock, towed 8000 milles from Britain under enormous technica] difficulties.

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Ready For Long Siege HOUSANDS of vards of dock and sea wall, 17 miles of railway and over 20 square miles of sheltered, deep-water anchorage complete the base. Within its limits are supplies sufficient to outlast a long siege. Even if the city of Singapore on the other side of the island should fall, the naval base can get along Ten thousand Chinese, Indians and other Asiatics work within its borders under white overseers. It 1s the ultimate Anglo-Saxon reply to Japan's challenging southward advance. If Japan ever seizes or immobilizes this base, she will be able truthfully to claim mastery of Asia. Until she does her dream must remain a dream. On Singapore stands security of Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, India, Burma, the Philippines and Australia—all territories to which the Japanese aspire, ultimately.

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British Deadly Serious

O the defense of Singapore, is, to the British, a deadly serious thing. They hold that it should be a deadly serious thing, too, to the United States The base was built during the ‘appeasement years.” Present-day Britons are thanking God that there were Englishmen with sufficient foresight in 19021—when disarmament, was the vogue— to realize that a huge base at Singapore wag the best possible guarantee for the security of Britain's Far Eastern empire. The 20-vear-job of construc-

tion has gone ahead to practical completion in the face of numerous vicissitudes and noisy opposition When vou ask Britons here whether Singapore is impregnable against attack, vou are likely to get an answer like this “Yes, if the American Navy Joins in. In any case, we could stand off a siege for months.”

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City of Stately Buildings HE city Singapore born more than 100 years before the base which gives it its current fame Approaching Singapore through the islandstudded harbor, vou are reminded of Hawaii.

And the city itself bears a much closer resemblance to the modern city of Honolulu than toe the crowded, filthy waterfront town of brothels, opium dives loons imagined in such colors by the romanticists. This is a town of stately public buildings, well-stocked stores, wide, paved streets, parks, clubs and homes, It has theaters com=parable to those of any American city of its size. The cost of living, for foreigners, is as high as in New York. Like all cities, it has its seamy side—its slums, its dives and its very poor. But these are less conspicuous than in any oriental city I have visited. In some ways, Singapore is puritanical. Amusement resorts are forced to close at midnight. Club life is stuffy. Many of the Europeans have surrendered to the heat and the ennui by drowning their cares in whisky and gin. Singapore is a hard-drinking town.

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The people—especially the British minority—are grimly aware that there is a war on. Though they enjoy themselves while they may, they realize that it may be a matter of only weeks or months before they are called upon to run the same dangers and make the same sacrifices as their compatriots in England. The English are the rulers, the Chinese the backbone of the city's business life. More than twothirds of Singapore's 750,000 inhabitants are Chinese. There are 70,000 Malays, 50,000 Indians and 25,000 Europeans. The rest are of numerous nationalities, including 3500 Japanese The influx of troops and R. A F. personnel has brought a breath of freshness into the stodgy colonial atmosphere. Conspicuous are the dusky fighting men from India, who were brought here because they are especially adapted to jungle warfare. But there are

NAVY SHORTENS ACADEMY TERM

LOS ANGELES, March 15

and sa-

(U, amoun's of gold from a

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British warships at the docks in

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Singapore.

Malayan seamen of the Royal Navy operate an anti-aircraft gun.

Scots and Englishmen and Australians, too, With the inpouring of uniformed men, Singapore has become a spinster's paradise. There has been an upsurge in the local marriage rate, o

Indian Army Blocks Path

FINE-SPIRITED Indian army, trained in the ways of the jungle, stands in the path of any Japanese attempt to fight to Singapore through British Malaya. Tens of thousands of these excellent dark-skinned troops have ar-

rived in Malaya within the last few months to augment the British defenses. Many of these men are Punjabis, cream of the native Indian army. They gave a good account of themselves in the last war. They have an advantage over the

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Japanese in that they are accustomed to the damp heat of the Malayan jungle and are likely to be less vulnerable to malaria and other tropical diseases. Strategists assume that while the battle for Singapore would be primarily naval, the attacking force also would attempt to push land troops in through the narrow

peninsula which forms Singapore's back door, Likeliest objective of a Japanese landing is Mersing, a port on tne east seacoast, 70 miles north of here, and the terminus of a paved road to Singapore. Any Japanese landing attempt at this or other points on the coast is pretty sure to meet stiff opposition, Once landed, the Japanese would have the problem of fighting their way inland over highways flanked with jungles, rubber groves and guerilla armies,

U.S. Judge Calls Death Valley Scotty a Fraud, ‘Desert Slicker’ Who 'Cleaned’ City Man

gecret | Mountains, only to have cloudbursts

Skilled Guerilla Fighters

HE Punjabis are experienced in guerilla fighting under equatorial conditions. The Japanese are not. An Indian officer told me proudly that his coms= pany had hewn its way through a mile and a half of “primary” jungle in an hour, which, he said, was better than any white or Japanese force could do. I have talked here to Indian troops and their officers. While they have strong views about the political situation in their homeland there is no question about their readiness to fight And they don't like the Japanese They remind me of the RAF mess I went to where I met Australian pilots brought here to fly the American-made Hudson bombers which are to share in Singapore's defense They would welcome a go at the Japanese and are profanely emphatic in saying so.

HEIRESS’ LUNCH TAX DEDUCTION

is affected by strikes overlook the devastating effect | : 5 of even small strikes in certain places. P.).—Death Valley Scotty is For instance, the Army fuse program is jeopardized by one strike at Bridgeville, Pa., which involves only 1100 C. I. O. steel workers. This strike is delaying production of a special steel for another concern which has contracts for one-third of the Army's total

fuse program. The Wright Field Strike DURING FEBRUARY and thus far in March, 468,000 man-days have been lost on Army contracts alone, That is nearly twice the loss of time suffered in February of last year for all industry. During the first eight working days of this month, 220,845 man-days were lost. That is, for War Department work alone, 60 per cent as much time as was lost during all of March, 1940, for all industry. The jurisdictional strike at Wright Field, where the A. F. of L. pulled out its workmen because an electrical subcontractor was using C. I. O. labor—five

My Day

GOLDEN BEACH, Fla., Friday.—I happened to be awake at dawn yesterday and saw the marvelously bright full moon gradually covered by what looked like a black shutter. However, the eclipse of the moon did not impress me very much, because here, where clouds keep blowing across the sky, it might just have been a very black cloud sailing by the moon as they sail by the sun during the day. Yesterday was spent much as all our days are, playing a little deck tennis, getting into the deliciously soft feeling water, and sitting in the sun or reading in the shade, The book I read was Lin Yu-

HOLD EVERYTHING

CAme Post OFRICE

laying small-arms ammunition work at Frankford . | a! mine. wash t ray, J ri , arsenal. Another strike in Philadelphia is delaying Annapolis Course to Be 3 fraud and a cheat, a backwoods| There was no mine, Scotty said: a Jat, DE on ‘Miss Rambeau’s Laundry’ howitzers. The aluminum strike is delaying $17,000,- N slicker who took advantage of a|Ajbert M. Johnson, wealthy retired | the hearing, and gave Scotty a | 000 of orders of the most urgent kind for aircraft. Years to Meet Needs, city man’s innocence and sold him | chicago businessman, had given | dressing down. ; : And Zanuck’s Posies Chrysler's tank arsenal is teetering on the edge of| i R | the desert, Federal Judge Benjamin him money to fritter away in large| He said Scotty had “defrauded” eo Ri a jurisdictional strike. Installations in a completed Admiral eveais. Harrison charged today. | amounts since 1905 and had built Gerard with a series of “come on Cut Schenck S Bill, part of the medium-tank arsenal are being bela 21 Judge Harrison took the suit of | his desert “castle.” Mr. Johnson | letters,” in which he had painted because of a row between carpenters and machinists,| WASHINGTON, March 15 (TU. Julian Gerard, a New York finan- said it was so. he had ne | glowing pictures of the wealth to! NEW YORK, March 15 (U. P.) .— each threatening to strike if the other is allowed to; P.).—The Navy proposes to shorten | cier, under advisement late yester-| Scotty $300,000 in the last 30 years, be found in Death Valley. | The income tax evasion trial of proceed with work. A strike in one Texas construc | 4 training course at the Annapo-|day. Mr. Gerard said he grub- and felt he had been well repaid | "Scotty could have been prose- Joseph M. Schenck was in week-end tion job is delaying completion of a toluol plant, and lis Academy fiom four to three | Staked Scotty—65-year-old Walter [in “laughs.” feuted for misuse of the mails at recess today, but Broadway still war that ties up the TNT program. 1 CEU) f r Scott—$10,000 in 1902 and was en-| When Scotty finished telling about | that time,” he said. “But it is too talking about some of the deArmy work is affected by 30 strikes now going on, vears to obtain a full quo'a of | titled to 22! per cent of his two $100,000 fortunes--one in gold late to do that now. He is a con- ductions his blond secretary deinvolving 32,000 men. It may be a relatively small officers for the naval expansion “wealth.” He had believed in the ore, the other in gold certificates— |fessed cheat, He represented to! goribed vesterdav—a 65-cent lunch number of men, but just as it takes only a slight ob-| program. [legend that Scotty dug unlimited he had buried in the Funeral Gerard that he had something of for Doris Duke tobacco heiress: $03 struction to trip a runner, so these strikes, some of |" yoo © Ww Nimitz, chief of | : value when he didn't have a thing. worth of flowers for Darryl Zanuck. them seemingly small. are crippling defense work at a « UVHTINE, TN “In other words, he took Gerard | “ RE Try Tuck: strategic points | the Bureau of Navigation, was dis- for a cleaning. Wheh a man from ard ‘Sandra Ramteaw's laundry All that is asked is that both sides accept friendly | closed to have told the Senate Ap- the desert goes to the city, they] The mention of Miss Rambeau remediation, and agree to make settlements retroactive Propriations Committee in execu- sell him the Woolworth Building, | C2l1ed to court reporters a former so that work may continue without interruption. tive session that the Navy plans In this case, the man from the SPringfield, Mo, girl who became to graduate its class of 1943 in desert sold the city man Death Val. one of the world's most talked 1042. He added that the change lev. itself [about glamour women." | has Presidential approval. rf I had it in my power,” he con- | The last recording of her social | We graduated the class of 1941 ; v . ; v | / y By Eleanor Roosevelt |, saute, te dass of 1081 tinued, “T would rule to reimburse activities was her reported marriage {In February, this year,” Admirai Gerard, but I can't make such a On Nov. 19 to Gen Franz Ritter von ( Nimitz said. We proposed to ie nok Epp, who was described by t Jer: | graduate the class of 1942 in Febru- judgment on this evidence, If Mr. “Pp, at seri Vv traveler: not be our god. That we want a good many things in ary 1942. We proposed to gradu- Gerard has any additienal evidence, | returning from Europe as the planlife and that these things are definitely good for us.|ate the class of 1943 in June of he may bring it into court while ner of “Germany's aerial biitzkiicg The man who knows what he wants is a happy man.”| 1042 and then for two, three or four the case is under advisement, against Great Britain.” He then proceeds to tell us what his own wants|years depending upon the duration “I can place no reliance in any-| She was born Dorothy Rambeau are. They are not all my wants. With amusement, I|of this emergency, we propose to thing which Scott has testified.” in Springfield, Mo, and came to began to think what fun it would be if we could put have three-year courses.” Fingering his red necktie as he New York in 1033. As a showgirl, some of our friends into a room and make each one, “But may I ask if the boys grad- left the courtroom, the grizzled Miss Rambeau’s name was linked write down his wants quite honestly. I think much uated are not handicapped?” Sen- desert rat said: with royalty, politicians, sportsmen entertainment would come out of this game, but also ator Rufus €. Holman (R. Ore.) “The judge called me a cheat. and the international social set. much enlightenment for ourselves and our friends. |asked. “They certainly cannot cur- | Now, T'll tell you—if he will come| Miss Rambeau was said to have We might all agree upon one want. Dr. Lin Yu- tail the course six months or a (out and travel with me for eight or heen “very friendly” with the Duke tang says: “I want some good friends, friends who are year and still get the benefits that 10 days in the mountains, he'll have of Kent about seven years ago. Her as familiar as life itself, friends to whom I need not| they would get in a four-year a little more reason and be a more name also had been linked with a be polite, and who will tell me all their troubles, course.” competent judge.” | German munitions heir, a famous friends who have definite hobbies and opinions about | TY are Dy by hav- _ So cartoonist, a banker's son, a “dis= persons and things, who have their private beliefs|ing their Christmas leaves cut and tinguished Wall Street tv ” and respect mine.” having their crusises cut and short- BURNED T0T, 2, PUT | ingat Mig So, Ot ened somewhat,” Admiral Nimitz ON THE SERIOUS LIST American millionaire and the Hindu

tang’s “With Love and Irony.” I am enjoying the point of view of the Chinese author who, like many of his countrymen, is a good deal of a philosopher, He has a delightful gift for description and makes me want to see the cities of the Far East before circumstances change even the results of centuries of civilization. T like his chapter on “What I want.” One sentence amused me particularly: “The real charm of Diogenes for us lies in the fact that we moderns want too many things, and particularly that we often do not know what these things are. In our best and sanest moments, however, we know that Diogenes’ god can-

The first and last part of the above paragraph describe almost perfectly for me the essential qualities in any friend. Yesterday I received a large envelope from the British American Ambulance Corps. It contained samples of cloth and told me of a donation of 10 per cent from the textile converters on the sales of fabrics | which are identified by their design with the British | cause. So, if you want a dress, a blouse, a hat or ac-| cessories made out of a material which has something | in the design reminiscent of this cause, you can probably get it at almost any store after March 17. Most of these materials seem to me attractive as well as purposeful, v

replied.

FACTORY CONTRACT LET

FLINT, Mich, March 15 (U. P). —Marlow H. Curtice, vice president of General Motors and general manager of Buick, announced today that a $2,000,000 general contract for construction of the company's new aviation plant in Melrose Park, Chicago, had been awarded to Thorgerson and Erickson, Chicago general Colas.

“Ha-ba!

COPR. 1941 BY NEA SERVICE, INC. TY. MRO. U. ‘Déar Ethelbert'—and he told us his name wh Gus!”

#88

Benjamin William Bonar, 2 vears

tub of scalding water yesterday, has

lold, who was burned painfully by a! Secretary, said

Prince Vishnu of Nepal. Ruth Nolander, Mr. Schenck’s that besides the flowers for Mr. Zanuck Mr. Schenck

been placed on the serious list at! had deducted from his tax returns

the City Hospital.

The child was riding a tricycle in Hudson and Simone Simon.

his home at 737 E. Georgia St., when

flowers for Shirley Temple Rochelle

The Government charges Mr.

he struck a stove on which the water Schenck with evading $412,000 in

| was heating. The tub was knocked |off, spilling the water on his body, and causing first and second degree’ hal

burns,

income taxes over a three-year period, including the deduction of of 8364, the cost of gold-plating dinnerware, as business expense.