Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 July 1941 — Page 11

WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 1941

' Hoosier Vagabond

DENVER, July 23. —I've been talking this evening

‘with the only fulltime, all-wool, 100 per cent meteor-.

‘chaser in America. His name is Harvey H. Nininger. It isn’t technically correct to call him a meteorchaser. I should have said meteorite-chaser. And

out on the difference between these. two things. METEOR—This is merely the , light you sge in the sky when a * meteorite falls. METEORITE—This is the thing that falls. Nearly all meteorites burst into hundreds or thousands of pieces ‘while plunging through the atmosphere. If you pick up .a ' couple dozen of these pieces, each one is called a meteorite, although ‘they're only parts of the original meteorite. It is all very confusing.. Now to go on with the story. From 75 to 100 meteors a year are reported in the U. S. Most of these are at night, for it’s easier to see them then. There are doubtless just as many in the daytime. Of these scores of meteorites known to have fallen “each year, only one or two are ever found. In fact, ‘meteorite-finding was done purely by acéident until Dr. Nininger got the bug 17 years ago.. Since then he has worked out a sort of detective system on meteorites. When he hears of a fall in his area—which covers all the mountain states—he immediately sends out notices to the panels, asking people who saw the meteor to write and tell him what direction they were facing, how close the meteor seemed, and so forth.

Advertises for Helpers ; He gets hundreds of answers. When his reports are all in, he sits down with a map and analyzes them. Let’s assume that a meteorite is thought to have fallen in western Colorado. Well, Dr. Nininger’s “spectators” way off in Utah - will ‘report that the meteorite was east of theg. In : Wyoming theyll report it south of them. Around * Denver they'll say it was west. ¢ By the time he has all his informants jotted down -on his map, it: shows the thing definitely centering, - say, in Moffat County. : “Nest thing he ‘loads up the car, gathers Mrs. Nin-

we might as well get straightened

By Ernie Pyle

inger and the three children with him, and. they set out for Craig, in Moffat County. Here he advertises in the paper for people to start looking for the meteorite. He talks with farmers, local geologists. Boy Scout leadérs—gets everybody in the mood to start looking for meteorites on the ground. Above all, he talks with sheepherders. “What's the sense of talking with sh erders?”, I asked. “You knpw all sheepherders are balmy.” “Yes, they're balmy,” Dr. Nininger said. * “But they're out in the wide open spaces at night, and also through loneliness most of them take up some hobby to kill time, and it might as well be meteoritehunting.” But even with all this groundwork, it’s aid to get people to hunt for a recently fallen meteorite just for the fun of the thing. So Dr. Nininger offers a reward. He buys all the meteorites found, whether they're fresh ones or old ones. His basic offer is $1 a pound. If it’s a tiny piece, his rate is higher. df it’s a huge one, the rate is-less. But it averages about $1 a pound. As a’ result of all this, Dr. Harvey H. Nininger collects 80 per cent of all

‘meteorites found in the U. 8S. in a year.

& . . He Isn't Getting Rich Here in Denver he runs a laboratory. He cuts and polishes his meteorites, and sells them ‘to other laboratories and universities. With that and his lecturing, he supports his work. But he has a close squeak financially. Half the time he doesn’t know how he’s going to pay his bills. He could throw up the whole thing, and make good money teaching. But he thinks the science is important, and he can’t bear to quit. ‘I asked him why he thought the science was important. He said well, with the proper facilities for study, you could finally estimate just about how much material was added to the earth each year through the falling meteorites and meteorite dust. Without wishing’ to be impertinent, I said, “Well, suppos€ you did estimate it. What of it?” “That’s the point,” Dr. (Nininger said. “All theories as to the origin of the earth are merely theories. I4hink it’s entirely possible that the earth has been built up by gradual deposits of meteorite material that hit the earth as they fly through space.” Well, for my money, Dr. Nininger’s theory makes as much sense as the rest of them. Well tell you more about him. tomorrow. ;

Inside Indianapolis (4nd “Our Town”

REPORTERS AREN'T INVITED. Outsiders are ‘not wanted. ‘Strangers are shooed away. ‘So, the result is that little if anything is known by the general public about the new proying ground near Madison, Ind. But the dope as we get it is that this laboratory for testing guns and powder and ammunition is in full swing—and has been for some months. The few people who have seen any part of the inside say it is a tremendous plant, with an airport, bombing area and the like. Good place to stay away from.

Eight Lives Left

WHEN A ST. LOUIS-to-In-dianapolis NYC freight train pulled into the East Yards near Beech Grove yesterday morning, brakeman Frank Nicely spotted an uninvited passenger. It wasn't a hobo—just a six-month-old kitten, who must have ridden all the way from St. Louis atop the boxcar because it couldn’t have gotten on en route since the train didn’t make a single stop. The 10 brakemen who are feeding the kitten say that it is all right except that it was extraordinarily hungry after its 17-hour ride. :

Around the Town

WE DON'T KNOW WHERE he found them, but Wesley Bunker, manager of the TWA office, has dug up a 1905 dictating machine and a typewriter of equal vintage and placed them in the window along with modern models. You get the idea. . » + And while certain Democratic strongholds around the city are in high good humor about fhe

‘Washington

WASHINGTON, July 23.—The most baseless complaint is that which comes from some Senators who say they are not being told the facts that make the situation of the United States as grave as the Admin-

istration insists it is. The essential facts are plain enough for anybody who will allow the facts to speak for themselves. They are available to anybody . who reads the newspapers. Senators and Representatives least of all have complaint on the ground that facts are being withheld. Senator Wheeler knew about the plan to occupy Iceland before the public knew it. - Senator Taft knew, before the public did, that American contractors were building naval air bases in Ireland for the British Government. They seem to find out what is going on. "In fact, Senators and Representatives on both sides have Lad the situation spelled out to them time and again. Confidential military information concerning the details has been given to them. Members of the House and Senate Military Affairs Committee have been told more military secrets than aay except our highest Army and Navy officers

The whole picture has been laid not only before Democratic leaders but before some of the Republican leaders such as Senator Austin of Vermont and

Rep. Wadsworth of New York. Any member can get ,

the full military details from his own informed party colleagues,

The Facts Are Plain

~ But teat is not necessary. The military secrets are not essential to an understanding of the picture.

picture is clear without knewing just where our -

LL To Canal defenses are located, how many Pe a we have in Iceland, and where in Latin America we are building air fields. By facts that count in this situation are plain to all except those who read with blind eyes. -

My Day

HYDE PARK, Tuesday —Last night I dined with Maj. Henry S. Hooker and afterwards went to Radio City Music Hall, which is certainly a marvelous place. We saw a light movie, with Ginger Rogers playing ,the heroine. I imagine it ended in the right way, for her heart won over her head. However, I am not at all sure that, even if her head had been working well, she would not have realized that the marriages which seem to promise that you will be on the receiving end for all the good things of life, are never very satisfuctory. Down desp in all of us, there is a desire to give as ‘well as to receive. : Mrs. David Levy called for me at 9:30 this mor and we visited two -of the s er play schools, run under the auspices of the Summer Play School Association. ¥ thought that this association was primarily. interested in keeping children entertained in playgrounds and off the streets during part of each day. Instead, I found that this association carries on real education. -' These schools open for the most part, after the Fourth of July and close around the 20th of August. DISLIS Shh PIriot, they fake chilldren from 5:48 In

‘between 7 and 12, if the Play School k not, exist in summer snd after school hours in winter v

skip-election bobble, we gather that Hizzoner the Mayor is a little unhappy about it. He'd like the election to roll around so he - «could be relieved. . .. And a lieutenant on leave from Camp Shelby confirms the rumors that the boys are really hard at work down south. Asked what he did with his last week-end leave, the “looie” said = simply: “Sleeping.”

The Trash Pile

MOST OF YOU have noticed at some time or another men with sacks over their shoulders and sometimes pushcarts traveling along the streets, picking every usable bit from trash baskets, like bottles, cans, old shoes, etc. One friend of ours put five pairs of shoes out the other evening: (they were in pretty bad shape) and he got up at 5:30 in the morning and peered out. Sure enough, they were already gone. Later in the day he noticed a big stake truck rolling along with four men working both sides of the street, systematically inspecting every trash basket. There must be gold in them thar baskets.

This and That

WINDOW-SHOPPING: Federal Judge Sherman Minton and family, in town yesterday for the day.

J. . Requests: Te Gus Hitzelberger from Clark - Gable, Hollywood; Cal. For some Hitzelberger turtle

soup, introduced to said Mr. Gable by Lum ’n’ Abner. . . . Busiest night spot in Indianapolis: The Ft. Harrison reception center. Thronged every evening by mothers, fathers, sweethearts, sisters, etc. . . . Defense shortage: Movie cameras. Local stores are hard put to get deliveries with the big ‘companies refusing to hurry up. Theyre too busy making equipment for the. Government.

By Raymond Clapper

They are the facts that have been in the war news for weeks and months. They are ‘the facts that you read in the dispatches now from Bolivia, which has just frustrated a Nazi-inspired attempt to overthrow the Government. : They are the facts such as the simple geographical fact that South America is nearer to Africa than to the United States. They are the elementary strategic facts such as the fact that the British navy in Gernan hands would completely alter the balatce of the antic

The Warnings of Hull

It isn’t any military secret that if Hitler licks Russia, as most military experts expect, there will be left nowhere in the world any army or any combination of armies capable at this time of putting up a fair fight as of today. It isn’t any military secret that if Hitler had occupied Iceland he would have been able to use that strategic spot for flank attacks

on shipping to England. It isn’t any secret that if Hitler cracks down on weak Portugal and Spain and takes possession of the Azores, the Canaries and the Cape Verde Islands, he will have bases from which to attack shipping in the South Atlantic. It isn’t any military secret that we have 25 or more outposts and bases that must be garrisoned," at which are defenses and protection for naval craft that must be maintained, and that it takes an army of considerable size to spread out over these posts. ‘ The cry that unless military secrets are disclosed the country can’t make up its mind is bunk. The cry that we are not: being told the situation is bunk. You can find the warnings from Secretary Hull beginning back at the time of Munich. _ The-only trouble is that some people have refused to listen, have refused to think, have stuffed cotton in their ears and Lave done nothing except to run around screaming that Roosevelt was trying to get us into war. They are the only ones who at this late. date complain that nobody will tell em the facts of life,

By Eleanor Roosevelt

the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon. There is one hot meal, a rest period, milk at 4:00, as well as outdoor play and recreation. There is also an opportunity to work in the shops and the science rooms; to carry on projects with paint and blocks, to Sook. They go on field trips and come back to ngs. They had been to the New York Grand Central Station yesterday and one child had painted quite a decorative mural of it. - Another one was busy on the floor, constructing out of blocks what I imagine was & train shed. The ages of the children run from 5 to 12 though, in some places, they are making an ex-

‘periment and taking boys and girls up to 15.

The children are not the only ones who benefit from this program. The parents are allowed to come and watch and help, and there is a social service worker who follows up ‘the problems in the home.

Every child has a physical examination and follow| up work is done. Young teachers and students get| practice training, for which they get credit in their].

school . and codllege courses. One of the schools we visited is in the housing

‘project near the 59th St. Bridge in Queens, New

York City, They have various other playgrounds as well, but ‘there would be nothing for the children

Germans Get 20 Gallons

Monthly, British

10, Italy 5;

For Most French==None

EDITOR'S NOTE—It is authoritatively reported from _ Washington that Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes will + soon impose restrictions on the consumption of gasoline and fuel oil in the Atlantic Coast area.

Such direct consumer restrictions would constitute an.

innovation in the United States, but it is an old story to residents of most other countries. The Indianapolis Times

and The Chicago Da:

News have asked their correspond-

ents to_describe gasoline restrictions in various countries.

Berman Europe

By DAVID M. NICOL

1941. by The Indianapolis Times The Chicago Daily News, Inc.

BERN, July - 23.—Mechanized warfare, with its insatiable demands for fuel, and the difficulties of transporting supplies, have brought restrictions throughout Europe to a point where it is hardly longer possible to speak of “civilian” gasoline consumption. People take trains when they

can get them, although the number is greatly restricted. They ride bicycles if they can buy them. They use streetcars and

, busses that burn substitute fuels

-—and they walk. In general, only important officials and semi-public persons such as doctors and those business concerns which can demonstrate that they are essential for the

Security and the life of the state

get any gasoline allowance at all. Germany . from- the beginning has treated each case as distinct, insisting on proof that an automobile or truck for which a permit is sought will be used only for “vital” purposes and allowing only a minimum. Delivery services for food, milk and other products have virtually halted except in wholesale lots. Even those with permits have faced constantly shrinking ration cards, which began with 300 to 350 liters (about 85 to 100 gallons) when the war broke out and have now come down to about 20 or 25 gallons a month. Taxis until recently, at least, were allowed about 55 gallons monthly and restricted only to important business trips. Police frequently halted cars to question occupants and fines might be imposed on both driver and passenger if the answers were unsatisfactory. Even more severe restrictions operate in the occupied territories. Gasoline and automobiles alike have virtually disappeared. Civilians are required there to get permits directly from the German Army before they can obtain fuel. Figures generally are not available, but in Denmark, where the Germans- have used a relatively light hand, the number of automobiles in service has been reduced 80 per cent, from 158,000 to 3200.

Private cwners in Sweden have been compelled. to store their vehicles or convert them to the use of one of the various wood fuels.

Switzerland

; correspondent. There are Jimes when the attitude

SWITZERLAND PROVIDES an example of rationing on a basis of equal treatment for equal

needs. When the war began its 100,000 automobiles were registered and classified in four

groups: Official or vital for public health or defense; essential for business; useful but not absolutely essential for business, and private. Twenty thousand cars were immediately taken out of service. Last August the third and fourth groups were refused further supplies and last December

the first two groups, comprising

about 45,000, were reclassified in three further groupings according to need. Only the first of these three new groups, about 15,000, now gets a regular ration—10 liters, or less than three gallons a month. Taxis use smelly acetylene generators of substitute fuel. Doctors are permitted the cleaner and more expensive compressed gas systems. For the bicycle business it has been wonderful. Switzerland, with only 4,200,000 people, is near the 2,000,000 mark, but in Germany and most occupied territories bicycles are almost unobtainable.

France

By PAUL GHALI

The Chicago Daily News, Inc. ‘VICHY, July 23~~There is no gasoline rationing among the civilian population of France for the good reason that 95 per cent of the French people do not get any gasoline, The remaining 5 per cent obtain varying quantities based on the importance of their service to the community. The list of these is brief: Farmers, doctors, transport service employees, businessmen, officials and diplomats. Circulation permits (called permis de circulation) for their cars are issued to members of these groups. But this does not mean that they can get the quantities of Suscline they need. rding to official statistics, France’s consumption of gasoline in 1939, which is considered the last normal year, was 300,000 tons monthly with 85,000 tons for what is now the Unoccupied Zone. Gasoline available for the coming August in this zone is only 6000 tons. Figures for the Occupied Zone are not available. Since the Fran-co-German armistice, France has been using reserve stocks as practically no gasoline has been re: ceived from the Germans or from Rumania. In the distribution of the fuel farmers are most favored and get about half of what they need for their tractors. Doctors in Vichy

Not China but Paris. ... An elderly lady takes a ‘taxi’ in occupied France.

are divided into three categories. Those who receive clients at home get about 3 gallons monthly. Those who visit in town get 7 gallons. Country doctors get almost 10 gallons. The future is dark and, according to official figures, monthly distribution will be severely decreased next month. The Bouche du Rhone Department which got 752,000 liters for July will get only 532,000 in August.

Canada

By EDGAR ANSEL MOWRER Cond Len bas Ree te” * WASHINGTON, July 23.—Gasoline consumption restrictions are

still mild in Canada. The immediate cause of thé latest ones, was the decision to turn over to the mother country for war purposes eight tankers which have been supplying the largest cities. To meet the deficiency the Canadian' Government has launched a campaign to halve present consumption, largely by voluntary co-operation. To make this easier, it is now forbidden to sell gasoline at night. Between 7 p. m. and 7 a. m. every day and between Saturday evening and Monday morning, filling stations are closed. - A further spur to lessened consumption is the increased price. The original three cents per gallon provincial tax has been increased by the same amount of Dominion tax, and in addition the Controller: has raised the price another cent.

ducing the mileage to 3000 miles yearly. This June restrictions became really serious; an attempt is being made to reduce the total Australian consumption to 144,000,000 gallons annually, or about 40 per cent of normal. The average legitimate weekly. mileage of the private user is about 20 miles. Moreover, each ration card must be exhausted

in two months and there is no .

carryover. Rations not consumed are simply annulled. The reason behind these cuts is, as in- Canada, lack of tankers. Taxes, which were always extremely heavy, have just about been doubled. :

Britain

Australia

AUSTRALIA, in this as in nearly every other respect, has outstripped ‘ Canada in the drastic quality of its war sacrifices. The normal Australian consumption of gasoline was about 360,000,000 (Imperial) gallons a year. A first

consumption cut reduced this to

_about 240,000,000 gallons, or by one-third. This was supposed Yo cut, the mileage of the “private user” to 4000 miles a year. In February, 1941, a second cut occurred, re-

By HELEN KIRKPATRICK 1041, by The Indianapolis Times The Chicago Daily News, Inc. LONDON, July 22.—In Great Britain all civilians are rationed according to the size of their cars so that a well-running car should 'be able to do about 100 miles g month. Those engaged in essential work are able to get supplementary. rations. a At the beginning of the war British civilians were given basic = ration depending on the horsepower of their cars, The minimum allowance is four gallons monthly for 1 to 7 h. p. vehicles, up to a maximum allowance of 10 gallons for 20 h. p. or above. This basic ration is being halved in October and supplementary rations for essential purposes jiate already. been cut down hy 10 to 20 per cent during the past month. Ration books ais issued here ev‘ery. three mon The British. oe {nsisted upon the pooling of commercial vehicles so that retailers of coal, milk, and the like, use only the 'mini-

mum of vehicles necessary for ac- °

tual deliveries, All commercial drivers and all civiliins with supplementary rations must keep log books of their trips in order to get their extra rations.

Italy

IN ITALY PRIVATE motoring is completely banned, but special permission can be obtained for the use of private cars for essential purposes and up to 5% gal-

Censors Butcher News in All But Two Far East Centers: Japan Most Severe, Manila and Shanghai ‘White Spots’

This is the third of a series of unusual NS turien from China, .

: By A. T.

STEELE

SHANGHAI (By Clipper). —The censor and his blue pencil have completed the conquest of all but two of the news centers of the Far

East. The remaining white spots Settlement at Shanghai.

are Manila and the International

"One of the minor miracles of the four-year-old Far Eastern crisis is that American correspondents can still dispatch telegrams

from Shanghai without danger of

mutilation by busybody censors.

This would hardly be possible were it not for the personal courage of Al Lusey, the muchthreatened manager for Press Wireless, here. Through his office, most American-bound press messages are routed. The Japanese and their puppets have warned Lusey repeatedly that if - he did not permit them to install a censor in his office, he wouldbe sorry. Instead of installing a censor, Lusey installed a couple of hard-boiled Russian body. guards. In a tour of practically all the capitals of the Orient, I encountered a great variety of censorship techniques. ‘Worst was that of Japan, where the new national secrets law has made it a technical Yolsiion, of the law to write anything critical ‘of the imperial policy. In Japan, contact between the correspondent and the censor is impossible. Newspapermen' can only file their telegrams and pre¥. ‘There is no way to learn the extent of butchery on their brain children through ‘ cross-checking with their home offices. : Naturally, Tokyo correspondents are careful. They have to be. There is always the chexnce that a deviation from fact or a lefthanded remark about the Army will lead to a summons from the Gendarmerie. Such interrogations are hard on the nerves. : » s f J

Open Door Policy

The a walling is done in the presence of the

The Chinese are especially touchy about the CommunistKuomontang crisis, China's relations with Soviet Russia and anything that reflects.on the integrity -of high Government officials. In Singapore, the censorship situation has been greatly im-

proved as a result of the publicity

given to it by Hallett Abend, cor.respondent for the New York Times. The old policy of hush-hushing

- correspondent looking on.

reinforcements of troops and materials has given way to a policy

of letting the world and the Japanese know that Singapore .is getting stronger. The British admit that this new attitude has paid dividends by sobering the ardor of the Japanese chauvinists for hasty action in the South Pacific. A Singapore ‘censorship is still hard in some ways, but the-colony is fortunate in having as its chief’ press censor a man of extraorginary perception and intelligence —Mr. Duckworth. As ih Chungking, surgical operations on press dispatches are performed with the The writer. can stop his telegram, if he does not like what is done to it. ' There is no danger of a telegram reaching its destination in a form like this: “Press Chicago

HOLD EVERYTHING

ee ny. lash w. where you stand. |

News . ... stop. . . stop . . . stop

« « « Steele.”

®» 8 »

Dutch Office Is Able

IN THE DUTCH INDIES, censorship is handled by an extremely able publicity’ office di-

rected by - a former newspaper publisher.’ There, too, the correspondent gets a casualty notice if his dispatch is mutilated. As in. other places, however, the war and navy departments have the last word, and their interpretation of what should and should not go out is very strict, On especially “delicate points, the censor ‘has to telephone’ the military headquarters, at Bandoegn, 100 miles away. Though the Dutch have maintained a strong attitude toward the Japanese, they will not permit correspondents to wax too critical of Japanese methods, for fear of ‘giving offense. In Thailand (Siam), the ceni problem is much the same as in Tdtge. You present your dispatch to thé telegraph office and that is the last you Da Oh UG YOu read & I 0 complete . or mutilated form in the newspapers arriving from home a month or so later.

If. the telegram is filed in the. |

evening it’ will probably relax on a’ spindle until 9.o'cleck the following morning.

8 8 =

French Censors Strict

THE FRENCH CENSORS in Indo-China are accommodating and above board. But they are also strict and unpredictable. In a dispatch on the landing of Japanese troops at Haiphong, I

‘made the: observation that within

a few moments after Jahding, & ite invaders were fraternizing wi the native Annamites. The censor said he would let

‘this pass if- I would qualify it:

lons of gas can be had monthly. Gasoline in Italy is about $1.25 a gallon but it is so scarce now that even those with permission and the necessary ration cards are often unable to obtain it. This compares with a price of about 40 cents a gallon in England since the outbreak of the war.

Spain

SPAIN’S GASOLINE allowance to private motorists is most liberal but a double contro] exists'as the price of a gallon of gas is about $2. For a car of American horse= power the Spanish authorities

, grant 26 gallons monthly.

Spain’s private cars are, in any case, getting always fewer in number. It is estimated that there are no cars newer than 1932 models in the entire country. In Italy and Spain all bus serve ices which duplicate railway serve ices have been eliminated. This is ‘not yet true in Britain but bus services have been greatly cut down. No commercial vehicle in Italy can get more than 16 gallons of gasoline monthly and these are again rationed according to horsepower, The same thing is true of Spain. In all thiee countries taxis are rationed according to the size of the cities in which they operate, In England the maximum allowance for taxis is 90 gallons and that only in the biggest cities, In Spain taxis of the highest horsepower can get a maximum of 60 gallons monthly; Italian ‘taxis are even more severely restricted — their maximum allow ance being 80 gallons monthly— and in all Italian cities the hume ber of taxis has been reduced by a 50 per cent,

Portugal ~

PORTUGAL 1S THE ONLY European country where gasoline rationing does not exist. But Pore tugal’s normal peacetime cone sumption of petroleum. is only 180,000 tons yearly of which, it is estimated, nearly 100,000 tons are used for fuel and industrial pure poses. The number of automo= biles in Portugal is so small that = rationing would make little dife ference.

STANDARD LIFE BUYS DEFENSE BOND LIMIT

Uncle Sam’s defense fund wené up $40,000 yesterday when' the Standard Life Insurance Co. of Ine diana purchased Defense - Savings bonds in that amount from the Merchants Bank Co. Harry V. Wade, general manager of the insurance company, and E. J, Barker, treasurer, gave the order to J. P. Frenzel, bank president. Since the company previously had bought $10,000 worth of the bonds, this brought its purchases up to the legal limit. : Mr. Wade said that from the idea of contributing to the national dee fense, purchase of the bonds is cone sidered a good investment by the firm, since in a 10cyear period, preciation from the bonds am | to almost 1 per cent more than the Yield: from Government bonds,

TEST YOUR |. KNOWLEDGE

1—~Which city in the United Statés, + according to 1940 census, has the :

3—S8inger. 4—French West Africa. 5—Yes. 6—United Servi T7—Eamon de Valera.

8—Twelfth.

Inclose a 3-cent stamp for re