Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 March 1941 — Page 11

TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 1941

The Indianapolis Times

SECOND

SECTION

Hoosier Vagabond

(Ernie Pyle has just returned to this country by Clipper. The following was written in London before he left and wirelessed to The Indianapolis Times.)

LONDON «by wireless).—One last look around before departing this embattled side of the world London is “cleaner” than when I came here three months ago. Bomb wreckage, except that of the previous two or three nights, is all pushed back of the sidewalks. Many places have been entirely cleared away and now stand there as vacant lots. Every day the great rubble dump heap on the grass of Hyde Park grows bigger. It now covers acres. and it is only one of many. The open basement of what was Lewis great store is now almost clear. A new sidewalk is being laid in front of the hole. Almost no streets are closed now by that strange English sign, “Diversion.” You can look up and down the Strand in daytime and hardly know a war is going ont Things are growing tighter daily. There will soon be meatless days officially. and in hard fact they are already here. Only a few silk stockings are left on sale. Radio sets are limited from now on. The railroads may soon raise their fares again. The Home Guards must wear their uniforms to work. Conscription of labor is In the balance. Yet there is no feeling of stringency or acuteness in daily life. People seem to live even more laxly than when I first came here. They know something is bound to come—but I am certain the public is not worrying about it, The war is not dramatic to the British people They go from day to day and take care of whatever happens. There is no fury, no frenzy, no great hatred. no general fear, no fanaucism Faces look the same as in peacetime. urgency in the British demeanor,

Gas Drills in Suburbs

Gas drills are being held in various suburbs. Repent tests show some masks “out of fit'—gas gets in

There 1s no

By Ernie Pyle

through the side. Four hundred masks a day are being lost or left on subway trains. The newspapers continually berate the public about not carrying masks, yet not one person in a's hundred does it, It'll be time enough after the first bitter lesson. The air war is picking up. On every cloudy or rainy day London has two or three daytime alerts. They are for lone wandering planes which sneak down through the clouds.

You never hear a shot nor the sound of a motor, yet a couple of bombs fall somewhere in the city— and a few people die. Now that the Lease-Lend Bill is law, the British talk more frankly to Americans. “Why shouldn't you give us the stuff?” my barber asks. “You don't ask a man to repay you a shilling when both of you are running for your lives.” | It is the belief of most of the Americans I know over here that America is headed rapidly toward war. Their feeling seems 50-50 for and against) the idea.

Mail Service Delayed

New stage plays are opening all the time. “Gone With the Wind” is running into a second year, and you have to get seats ahead of time. Leslie Howard is making a film. Lawrence Olivier has passed his R. A. F. medical examination. Mail is still slow. Even air mail takes a long time —if it comes at all. I know that a certain girl in| America has written me every week, but I have re-| ceived exactly three of her letters, and each of them had been weeks on the way, | My total bag of British aristocracy consists of meeting one lady and one lord, and two dames (the titled kind, I mean). I still don’t know for sure what the “Cliveden set” is, but I can find my way around Stepney in the dark. Despite British courtesy and kindness I have made few friends over here—probably no permanent ones— but I blame no one for this except myself. Everybody will be glad when real spring comes to London, and I'm sorry I won't be here for it. But there are many people in London looking forward to spring who won't be here for it either, They won't see spring again ever,

Inside Indianapolis (And “Our Town”)

IT'S A LITTLE EARLY tg tell for sure, but the opening sales on Heath Bowman's book, “Hoosier,” indicate that it may be a regional best selier., One store here has sold more than 300 copies since last Thursday, the publication date, and have re-ordered twice from Bobbs =~ Merrill, the publishers. Ayres had a big show-window layout on Meridian St. last week. One of the pictures was an enlargement from the book of an old brushfire-bearded native. A Helen Hockinson customer breathlessly inquired if that. was Mr. Bowman (who is a comparative youngster) and how old Mr, Bowman was,

Another to buy

customer tried the map that centered the layout (it was the result of hours of labor). She thought they were selling—not a book

but a new. Hoosier map. Life in the Big City MID-TOWN SIGHTS: A mascaraed girl with French-heel slippers and gabardine slacks holding a baby—Washington St. madonna. , . . Officer Forrest Allison, the pedestrian’s scourge at Washington and Meridian Sts. saying he can tell the difference between a native and an out-of-towner. The natives are taking the pedestrian’s “Stop, look and listen safety drive” seriously. The out-of-towners move blithely on despite his whistle, ( . + B. Nelson Deranian, Grand Jury chief deputy, back from Florida with a tan and a peeling nose, He and Erle Kightlinger, another deputy prosecutor, joined at the corner of Pennsylvania and Market Sts. by Boss -Sherwood Blue. Says Mr. Deranian: “I was mentioned in Inside Indianapolis once as a bachelor.” “You ARE one, aren't you?” asks Mr. Kightlinger, “Yes, I was just commenting,” is the reply, So?

Washington

WASHINGTON, March 25.—~The new Defense Mediation Board begins work this week, and under such favorable auspices as to give hope that perhaps a period of smoother labor relations can be achieved. We have the ingredients. First, Wwe have a mediation board whose members are recognized as fair and reasonable, Second, we have the Department of Labor's Conciliation Service, which, considering the limitations under which it has had to work, has been capable, Its effectiveness should increase now because of the existence of the big board at Washington. When conciliation fails, the dispute will go to the National Defense Mediation Board, where it will be investigated and aired publicly together with findings. Unless employers or employees have a good case, they are not likely to court a public hearing and an adverse decision, and will be the more ready to yield to conciliation, Third, we have an increasing acquiescence by employers in collective bargaining. Henry Ford has been one of the most stubborn holdouts but is now relenting, unde: the force of court decisions upholding Labor Board decisions. Indusirialists cannot hold out in this situation any more than unions can hold out in petty strikes and jurisdictional disputes.

. nn . Wages Holding Their Own Fourth, we have a fairly steady price situation. Rising prices have been one of the real sources of labor trouble in the past. During the last war prices shot up, often with no justification, and forced labor to keep demanding higher wages because, as one authority put: it, the workers had to run fast in order to stay in the same place, With many industries working overtime, hourly wages in manufacturing industries now average 397% higher than in December, 1933, the Department of Labor reports. The cost of living has risen about 2.1% since September, 1938. That would sug-

My Day

GEORGETOWN, S. C., Monday.—Saturday morning I spent an hour at the National Gallery of Art looking at *he early Italian primitives. What a marvelous collection! It seemed to me I had never seen 80 many priceless treasures gathered together in one : place. David Finley and his staff are particularly happy over the fact that they have had between eight and nine thousand visitors daily. So, beauty does appeal to the American public. In the afterncon, I went to the concert at the Library of Congress to hear the Budapest String Quartet, which was a joy. A few friends from New York City spent the week-end with me and on Saturday evening we saw the movie taken from Christopher Morley’s book “Kitty Foyle.” Ginger Rogers certainly makes an attractive and charming voung lady in the principal part, and I do not wonder the gentlemen fell for her charms. On Sunday afternoon, I went to tea at Florence Kerr's with the regional directors for the WPA Community Service projects. As usual, I was impressed with the amount of valuable service which the bulk of the WPA projects render in every possible field of community life, ‘This morning my car left bright and early to meet us in Georgetown, S. C, and at noon Miss Thompson and I flew down to stay there for the P

ANY

Mrs..

Have You Met Roger?

THE OTHER DAY Walter Smith heard Max] Emery, control tower operator at the airport, talking to an airplane pilot by radio. The airplane pilot called |

back: “Roger.” “Who is that ‘Roger’ I always hear flying through here?” asked Mr. Smith. So now Mr. Smith wears the Indianapolis Aero Club dunce cup (they call him chief jackass). “Roger” is the new code word for “Received your message, O. K.” °*

The Political Front...

THIS ATTORNEY-GENERAL suit filed by the Democrats seems likely to open a number of side issues. One of the issues now jokingly referred to arises from a portion of the suit that savs the Lieutenant Governor's office is purely legislative and neither judicial nor administrative. Some Republicans are asking if Governor Schricker's job as boss of the Agriculture Department and State Fair when he was Lieutenant Governor was purely legislative and if he would possibly be sued for back salary.

‘Any Tax Today, Lady?’

FOLLOW-UP DEPARTMENT: Mrs. Harry Cole got her bear cub from Spike Horn Weber, the Sports- | men’s Show bear magnate. Mrs. Cole lives on E. Washington St. You'll remember she put in a requisition some time ago for the bear cub. She and her, husband, high-topped boots, red bandannas and all, have struck up a friendship with Spike Horn on an oldtime basis. They've not only adopted Spike Horn, but his bears, too. . . . The colored servant of a North Side home called upstairs to the mistress of the house the other day: “There's a lady down here wants to know about personal tax, mam. Are you interested in any?”

By Raymond Clapper

gest that real wages are at least holding their own. The Government this time is endeavoring to prevent inflationary prices, and it has more methods of control than it had at the beginning of the last European war. In all, this important cause of wartime labor wage disputes is less acute this time. An encouraging sign also is found in the action! of the A. F. of L. Painters’ Union. It has pledged | all of its member unions, covering some 125,000 members throughout the country, not to raise wage rates after a defense project had been started, not | to raise dues and Initiation fees, and to supply qualified painters for defense jobs, even moving them from other states if necessary. The agreement was entered into with the national organization of painting contractors, the emplover group covering 6000 contractors and 1200 local unions.

British Labor Sacrifices

This agreement wis negotiated by the employers and the employees on their own joint initiative, and | they have set up their own machinery for adjusting disputes without stopping work. Both sides said they | entered into this agreement out of a common desire | to avoid obstructing defense work. | The A. F. of L. is encouraging other groups to take similar action in order that the recent pledge of President Willian Green to avoid unnecessary strikes may be made more effective.

The British labor movement has advanced itself | by making willing sacrifices during this period. It| has thereby won its way into positions of power and | is now so deeply inirenched in the war effort that] it is taken for granted:.Churchill will be followed by | a Labor government. Labor is making sacrifices now | and expects to reap its reward by having a real hand in the government of England after the war. | The American labor movement has gained enor- | mous power through the Roosevelt Administration. | If 4t should turn on the Administration now, and become the outstanding source of obstruction, it) would forfeit public good will and meet with the same fate that overtook the reactionaries who tried to stand nn the way of the American people during the | first two Roosevelt terms.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

night with a friend. Before we left, Dr. Martha! Eliot, of the Children’s Bureau of the Department, of Labor, came to my press conference this morning! to tell a little more about her trip to England. | There seems to be one more fund appeal which! cannot be ignored. It is the Royal Air Force Benevo- | lent Fund of the U. S. A, Inc. Their offices are at 515 Madison Ave, New York City, and they are helping the needy dependents of R. A. F. pilots, gunners and observers, who are Killed or disabled in the performance of their duty. I think all of us have been stirred by the extraordinary services of the R. A. F., and you will perhaps be interested to know that the royalties from the books written by Lawrence of Arabia, were willed by him some time before his death to this fund, which was founded in 1919. He, himself, enlisted as a mechanic in the R. A. F. and was known in the service as Aircraftsman Shaw, . One interesting thing about the fund is that neither in England nor in the United States, does a penny raised go to overhead. The necessary administrative expense is carried by the small group of people who were instrumental in setting up the fund. Perhaps, because I like flying so much, I often think of that particular branch of the military services. I know that even in peace time pilots worry about the care of their families in case they “go west.” The men who fly daily and nightly across the enemy lines may meet death almost any time. All we can do is to give them the assurance that those they leave behind will be wel cared for.

Eng

| and

3oth Sides of the War

land's Formidable Coast Defenses Are Well Hidden By Camouflage

This is the second of a parallel series on Europe's war by two American reporters who have just returned from a visit to both sides.

By JOE ALEX MORRIS

(Copyright, 1941. b

v United Press.)

The young British army colonel stopped abruptly on a hillside overlooking the English Channel and pointed down

to the beach.

“When he orders an invasion,” the colonel remarked casually without mentioning Hitler's name, “I shouldn't be surprised if they come in here.” 5 Below us lay a quiet, sunny beach from which green hills typical of the south coast of England stretch back

into a countryside that seems farfrom the chaos of war. Along theroads were occasional tank barriers and on the beach three tough, springy rolls of barbed wire. Here, it seemed likely, Britain might soon face one of the most desperate struggles in Empire history. But, I asked, aren't you doing anything about it? You can't expect to stop the Germans with barbed wire. The colonel pointed again. “See that?” he asked, but I could see only the normal countryside. “Well, that's a fully manned battery. Look closely. You can see the men moving about ., , . and see that?” He pointed again. blockhouse , and other , . . and another. There is a tank trap. You don’t see it until vou're over the dure and then you're in it. . . . That busi-

ness there is to keep you from stumbling on a land mine. And

Mr. Morris

“That's a there's an-

| in that direction is a battery of

really big guns that likes to have its target further out on the water than you can see.”

" » ”

Heather and Feathers

As I studied the places he

pointed out I began to see some of the men on guard against invasion every hour of the day and night. “But,” control where from which battle?” The colonel smiled and, taking hold of my arm, led me forward three steps. “Step carefully,” he said, “We're practically in it.” We were in a dugout headquarters hidden from enemy eves by camouflage that employed everything from heather to chicken feathers. From the concealed and strongly protected chamber, telephone lines observation posts covered every foot of the coastal sector, Military experts to whom 1 talked,’ including men directly responsible for protection of the most acute danger areas, believe that the Germans can and will land on English soil. They may be able to land in large numbers. But as I inspected the defense preparations — some of them closely guarded military secrets— I began to understand why the British are confident that an invasion would be a disaster for Hitler. Before going to the coastal military area I signed a promise to submit anything I wrote to censorship. When my notes came back from the censor there were many paragraphs buried under blue pencil marks, but this was left: “Months of ceaseless work and careful planning and ingenious military experimentation have created a barrier more formidable than any soldiers of the past ever faced or possibly ever imagined. The men who invade England today must pass through a hell fire as literal as can be devised by military genius . . . seemingly undefended hills and points may suddenly roar with gun fire.”

» ” Ld

I asked, “where is the point for this sector; is the field headquarters you would direct a

Experiments Go On

“Barbed wire waits to trap the enemy into an easy target position. Mines may lie under his feet at the next step. Huge tank traps are beyond the sand dunes. Forts have been remodeled . . . but these are the ordinary defenses and to - be expected. They are only part of the dangers that an invader must face. (Here a paragraph was deleted.)’ “We walked down a winding path to the beach. “Men were hard at work here, including engineers who are still experimenting with beach defenses. Blockhouses are concealed on the beach, placed so that their fire crosses at vital points.” The barbed wire is in rolls, piled in pyramid fashion and firmly anchored. The dunes behind are death traps for tanks or infantry. An enemy stepping on this beach would walk into a solid wall of fire, shrapnel, machine - gun bullets and high explosives.” We went from the beach defenses to corps headquarters some - miles away to talk to Gen. Alexander, a handsome, round-faced officer who has surged rapidly toward the top since he played an important role in the evacuation from Dunkirk. Our driver had not been at corps headquarters before and we passed it twice before we finally saw the sentry box and realized that this spot, which seemed the most peaceful and ordipary im

England, was the brain center of preparations against invasion. Inside the main building, dozens of stenographers were at work in a long hall where distinguished company once gathered Among priceless .objects of art which were now covered with ‘white cloths. The operations room was hung with war maps that half concealed a series of famous murals. In the center of the room was a huge table on which had been built a relief map of southern England and the European coast. On it were dozens of toy ships, spread out along the European invasion ports.

ou un ” Keep Up With Reports : “These ships represent German invasion vessels,” the general said “Their positions are changed daily on the basis of new reports.” : We climbed a few steep steps, the general leading the way, to a platform from which the commanding officer could look down on the operations room. It was like a bird's-eye view of the whole English Channel battlefield. with staff officers, technicians, orderlies, Stenographers and telephonists standing by, Telephones were at the general’'s elbow, ready to put him in instant touch with every part of the corps area. With a long pointer he could touch any part of the giant map on which the progress of battle would be reproduced step by step. Gen. Alexander talked about the probability of an “all - out” blitz and an invasion attempt. The British experts look at it this way: The Germans are likely to strike from a number of directions at once. Some blows will be for diversion purposes but several will be with full force. A large German force, with good fortune, probably can land on British soil. Barges which could push in close

~ to shore and drop landing bridges

and bigger ships with the bows cut down so they could be run ashore would be necessary. Other large ships would be brought in as close as possible and grounded, and men and materials put ashore in smaller self-propelled boats.

One, More Might Succeed

Out of several such attempts at widely separated points, one or more might succeed unless the British could maintain strict air control over the entire coastline. But to maintain that foothold the Germans must establish and maintain communication lines from Europe, establish local air superiority over their bridgehead and face a concentrated counterattack by British mobile forces based inland, and by the British Home Fleet and the Royal Air Force, In addition to the armed forces, the British believe that every man, woman and child coulg be counted on to fight if necessary. In view of the way British forces have fought for many years on foreign soil, as one diplomat in London remarked, you may expect them to do a pretty good job in their own back yard.

SUBS TO PRACTICE OFF LONG ISLAND WASHINGTON, March 25 (U.P.). —U. S. submarines will operate in Long Island Sound during the week ending March 29, the Naval Hydrographic Office advised shipmasters today. The operations, constituting routine practice maneuvers, will be held east of Block Island Sound and south of a line joining Montauk Light in Long Island and the Block Island southeast light.

Grenadier Guardsmen make full use of cover afforded by the tall grass as they crawl forward to the

attack in

the realistic training being held throughout England in anticipation of a German invasion,

Blackout in Bremen Gives Wilson Lonesomest Moments of His Life

By LYLE C. WILSON (Copyright, 1941, by United Press.) The express train from Hamburg rolled into Bremen on schedule, and an obliging German naval officer gave me last minute directions. He was sorry he was not going my wav but assured me that Hillman's Hotel was only a short walk from the station—that I couldn't miss it. It was night time and bitterly cold. So with one bag, one hooded flashlight and what had seemed to be ample directions for Hillman’s I stepped boldly through the light trap at the railway station door into—the blackout. I had encountered the blackout before—in Dresden waiting for a train, in Berlin in company with other Americans or with Germans who knew the city with a cat’seye awareness of where to go and how to get there. But in Bremen I was on my own. Ten seconds away from that doorway light trap I was as lost as though I had parachuted from the stratosphere and landed on a strange planet,

Ni o “

I could hear people around me, the scuff of their feet on the pavement or the murmur of a language which I could neither speak nor understand. With every step the blackness closed in and the flashlight which I had borrowed so confidently—it is difficult to buy them in Germany— cast a pale half ‘moon .of lesser blackness on the street.

On and On

I walked on and on and on; it seemed to me for blocks, in some of the lonesomest moments of my life until the terror of the darkness drove me to ask assistance. I hurried in the direction of the nearest scuffling feet, seized an arm and almost shouted: “Hillman’s Hotel! Hillman’s. Can you direct me to it?” And out of 80,000,000 Germans the man attached to that arm was a linguist. Yes, he knew Hillman's Hotel. Just come along and we would be there in a couple of minutes. And we were. We approached the impenetrable darkness of a wall. My guide pushed confidently, A door swung open

into a light trap and in two steps

HOLD EVERYTHING

COPR. 1941 BY. NEA SERVICE, INC. T. M. REG. U. $. PAT. OF,

“I've got so I can’t drive, Colonel, without the little woman in the

back seat.”

%

Mr. Wilson

more through another door we were in the welcome brilliance of an excellent hotel lobby. Bremen probably is the hardest hit of German mercantile ports but there are scarcely any marks of bomb damage in the gity proper. I was told that the damage of stray incendiaries could be repaired or disguised in an incredibly short space of time, that the German authorities do not leave any gaping wounds around to put wrong ideas in people's minds. Being on my own in Bremen, I had no open sesame to the port area where the British believe they have inflicted enormous damage. I was advised that attempting to enter the port area on my own might lead to trouble —s0 I passed it up. You snon learn to heed advice of that sort in Germany these days.

Many Warehouses Fired

In Bremen I contented myself with what I regard as absolutely reliable information that British bombers have started many fires in the warehouse area in the port. There was a piece in the paper the day before I was in Bremen saying Grand Admiral Eric Raeder had been in the vicinity distributing medals to a hundred or so civilians for acts of heroism including work during air raids. I know of one back garden in Bremen where a dozen fire bombs fell in a single raid. That would indicate that the British effort there had been more consistent than in most other parts of Germany. But there was no outward evidence of destruction in Bremen and the town was humming along, streets full of pedestrians and hotels and transportation facilities crowded. So I'll take air raids in preference to blackouts anytime. That's my choice among the perils of war as I found them this winter in the German Reich. It may be different this spring when the British promise—and most Germans expect considerable blasting from the skies. Germans know that long-range American bombers are on the way. But IT am writing of the war as I saw it from central Europe and of the only time I really felt insecure and frightened.

A Quiet Six Weeks

From Jan. 21, when I arrived in Berlin, until March 1 when I departed from Templehof airport, there was not a single air raid in the German capital. In midFebruary we had what is known as a 'fore-alarm.” «~ Such alarms are private advices given to newspaper offices, hospitals, hotels, and certain public institutions. They report merely that British planes are headgd

in your direction with the understanding that they may turn back or seek some other objective. On that occasion the British pilots bombed Potsdam some 20 miles west of Berlin but did not disturb the capital. A week later in Cologne I experienced moments. of anxiety. Hurrying through the streets from a beer hall-—-emptied by the air raid siren's wail—to an illicitly open night club sunk deep in a cellar, German anti-aircraft were pounding at the British planes overhead. Beer hall groups had been separated in the rush to evacuate the place and there were hoarse shouts for “Anni,” “Hans,” and “Otto.” As far as I could learn there were no casutlties.

3-Hour Air Show There was another night when I hung out my hotel window for a three-hour air show over Cologne. British planes hummed back and forth over the city, The Germans call their anti-aircraft batteries “flak” and it made a terrific rack= et. Overhead the shell bursts made our July Fourth shows around the Washington Monument seem quiet by comparison and the British, meantime, kept the city bright by dropping flares. The truth is that an amateur war correspondent—in which’ com= pany I hold identification card No. 1-A—is quite unable to dis= tinguish between the burst of a bomb a few blocks away and the noise of heavy anti-aircraft artillery. But I can recognize a fire when I see one. And when I was told that the British radio had announced that 130 fires had been started in that Cologne raid, All I could report to the Americans and Germans who asked me about it in Berlin and Essen was that there had been no fires in the part of the city commanded from my hotel window. I heard later that most of the damage was a smaller, adjacent industrial city and I suspect that probably represents the truth of that air raid story.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—Are wood screws made of metal or wood? 2—Which of these three States does not require a license to operate a motor vehicle, Illinois, Louisiana, Alabama? 3—"Never, Never, Never Land” is in which of Sir James Barrie's plays? {—Is Long Tom the name of a train, fictitious character or a large gun? . 5—Of what country is Ankara the capital? 6—In which Department of the Federal Government is the National Labor Relations Board? T—Ice covered with a white or black cloth, will melt quicker in direct sunlight? 8—To which country did Tanganyika in Africa belong before it passed to Great Britain?

Answers 1—Metal, 2—Louisiana. 3—“Peter Pan.” 4—Large gun. 5—Turkey. 6—It is an independent agency. 7—Black cloth. 8—Germany. I

un on 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.

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