Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 October 1941 — Page 11

MONDAY, OCT. 6, 1

" Inside Indianapolis (And “Our Town")

A LONG-TIME RESIDENT of the City writes us to shed a tear for the “once beautiful N. Meridian St., where in the Gay Nineties the City’s nobility lived in thelr: stately homes.” - | “In those days,” he writes, “the street was a real PENRRE 2 show -place. It was considered a ‘Sunday . afternoon. treat for the ~ average citizen to stroll down the +. «street and see the ladies in their - fine costumes with long skirts and mutton leg sleeves, or to stop and admire ‘the beautiful horses and

have done away with the gaiety

of the Gay Nineties and now Me- °

ridian might better be called the “Via Dolorosa” or “Street of Sorrow,” our friend suggests.

You may not have counted

them, but there are 13 mortuaries—some of them very de luxe, indeed—on Meridian between Memorial Plaza and Fall Creek.: - : g Sandwiched in between is a house that deals in ‘exclusive burial garments.” Adding to this aspect a has taken a large corner lot assortment of tombstones.

The Hair Ribbon Code

THE SHORTRIDGE ECHO lets us in on the secrets of the high school hair ribbon code. In our usual blind way, we thought that when girls wore __. hair rfikbons they wore them just to be wearing them. But from the Echo we learn that every little ribbon has a meaning all its own. For instance, says the Echo, a white ribbon. means flirtations welcomed; yellow ribbon—kiss me; red

melorial “company now is displaying a fine

ribbon—a dangerous woman (self appraisal); green

ribbon— jealous wearer; pink ribbon—has a steady boy friend; black ribbon—mourning and needs cheering up, etc. It seems there's a lot more to the code,

including location of the ribbon bow. ; The code sounds like a good idea. It ought to save a lot of misunderstandings.

Slippery Asphalt

WHEN IT’S WET, that new asphalt pavement on Washington Blvd., between 34th and 36th, gets pretty slippery—so slippery in fact that several motorists have asked us to find out the reason. From the City Engineering Department, we learn that it’s just ordinary asphalt, such as we have on Central Ave. and a lot of other streets. The reason it’s so slippery is that it was rolled while the asphalt mixture was

too hot, and that resulted in a thin film of pure

asphalt on the surface. It'll be wom off in a short time and the pavement will be okay. . . . You can expect some more heads to fall in the purge of McNutt leaders in the State House soon. There are still a few of the former Governor's appointees in fairly important posts that are due to be weeded out without further ado. When the purging is, over, you can be pretty sure that all important jobs will be held by men loyal to Governor Schricker, although some of them will be holdovers from the previous administration.

Home Town Boy Makes Good

SPEAKING OF McNUTT, one of the Washington big wigs—we dassen’t tell you his name—told us last week during the bar convention that our silverthatched statesman is gaining in stature right along. This big wig, who himself rates very high in the Administration, confided that when McNutt came back from the Philippines, everyone figured it was just a case of finding a job for “another politician.” Now, we're told, they're recognizing our Faul more and more as an able administrator. The way he took the disappointment of the Chicago gonvention impressed a lot of New Dealers, too. w about 1944? Our big wig was evasive: “Well, I don’t know what Frank will do.” .

but faces a long convalescence. - Ernie is resuming his travels.

Ernie Pyle’s column will be back in The Times, but not for about three months. Mrs. Pyle, who recently suffered a sudden and serious illness, has left the hospital going to stay with her for a while, before

L - Washington AVASHINGTON, Oct. 6.—There is always the danger of reading wishful thinking into the news, yet ‘Hitler, in his first speech since he announced his attack on Russia, sounded like a man on the defensive, like a leader‘trying to reassure an apprehensive people » that he had not made a mistake. Among most American ' and

British officials with whom I have talked, there is almost unanimous

judgment that Hitler blundered in attacking Russia and that he pre- - sented his: enemies with the best "break of the war. Hitler seemed to be placing the responsibility for ‘that upon the German Army command. He said that the German supreme, comj mand could not guarantee a de- | cision over Britain so long as vast . forces had to be detained in the east to guard against Russia. ‘He said he had not had any idea how gigantic were the Russian preparations. He said the decision to attack Russia was the hardest decision of his whole life. = in,

: In other words, Hitler seemed to be telling the

German people that Russia’s strength was greater -

an had been anticipated and that he made the decision with. _reluc and only after ‘the Army “told “him 1 “to ‘be’ done “tb “Wir’ the war.’ That certainly sounds like a political leader on the defensive, looking for an alibi. : Hitler suggested the possibility that this would be a long war. That does not sound like the Hitler who in a New Year's proclamation on Dec. 31.last told his people that the year 1941 would bring consummation of the greatest victory in German history.

‘In Terror of Long War

HE SAYS NOW that the arms with which Germany is fighting this year will not be the arms with . which she will be fighting next year, He pointed .. out how useful the German Red Cross and German relief organizations would be in a long war, and said new administrations were being established in con-

| Keeping Up

IW GTON, Oct. 6—The input of industry ough be regulated, rather than the output, in order to provide an incentive for making substitutions

for scarce materials, SPAB Director Donald M. Nelson

admits. . ; But there just isn’t enough in- = + formation yet in hand to enable the Supply Priorities and Alloéations Board to make the necessary decisions, he says. By “input” Mr. Nelson means the supply of industry's mategials, scarce or plentiful, The output of important civilian trades is now being throttled down, beginning with automobiles and refrigerators, but a number of manufacturers and their communities have been objecting that this method offered no reward to producers ingenious enough to find substitute materials. The point is of obvious importance to the employees and others dependent on plants which have been ordered to cut down to 50 per cent operations or thereabouts. Under the regulations of output there is nothing for them to do but conform. If, instead, their purchases of certain items could be limited, * they could do some rejiggering or redesigning and keep more of their employees in the shop.

No Question of Theory

THE QUESTION ISN'T a matter of managerial theory. It concerns that whole industrial region running from New York to St. Louis and upper Wisconsin where communities of recent growth have specialized : * heavily in the newer and lighter industries. Mr. Nelson says that in electrical , including refrigerators, the squeeze-point is in copper,

‘not quit af!

By Raymond Clapper

quered territory to make it uséful in event the war continued for a long time. * Germany has had a terror of a long war, and justifiably so. Hitler has educated his people to the idea of a short war, All of his strategy has been based on a short war. All of his promises have been of a short war. People coming out of Germany have said that there was much popular disappointment when England did er France fell. Then came the hope that England would be knocked out this year. But that hope was dashed when Hitler turned to Russia and particularly when it became evident that the Russian campaign would be a long one.

Cards Stacked Against Hitler

THE AMERICAN AND BRITISH missions finished their Moscow conference convinced that Russia would stand, would not consider quitting, and that the supplies needed, while large in some categories, are not beyond practical dimensions. There is no doubt apparently, that Russia will be

on hand for a spring campaign. That's the word{

coming through the long-distance grapevine. If this judgment of men who have been on the ground proves to be sound, there is no cause to worry about the final outcome. The longer the war goes on the more certain Hitler's defeat will be, provided American pro-

“duction proves equal to the need.

When one tries to figure the step-by-step route to final victory, it is not so easy to see just how it

‘will come about. But you have these factors which

seem unbeatable in combination: The will to stick it out in Russia and Britain; the overwhelming preponderance of resources in the United States, the British Empire and Russia; the strangulating power of combined American and British naval strength used in co-operation with a program of economic warfare; and the gnawing cancer of hatred in every Germanoccupied country, which will sap the strength of Hitler’s new order inéreasingly as time goes on. These ace cards are stacked against Hitler and it is hard to see how even his military genius and the great resourcefulness of the German nation can beat the game,

‘By John W. Love

not in steel. In copper the military demand is so

"great and the supply so rigidly limited that little hope ‘can be offered for any betterment in civilian supply

for months to come. “We already know approximately the demand and the supply of copper,” he said. “The question comes down to that of whether manufacturers can find substitutes for copper.” . According to one set of figures, the defense needs are for 144,000 tons of copper a month, with a visible supply of 138,000 tons. Another set of figures, published this week, gives the essential demand as 1,400,000 tons in 1942 and the supply as 1,800,000 tons, leaving the balance next year of 400,000 tons to satisfy ‘industries ordinarily using three times as much,

Still Couple of Months Away

THE PROGRESS OF the new regime of allocating the supplies of the scarcer metals, in place of the priority system which. recently became so congested, will gradually relieve some of the tighter situations, Mr. Nelson thinks, but it cannot be installed widely until the over-all survey of defense and civilian needs and the available supplies is completed. This is progressing but won’t be done for a couple of months, The story published a month ago that manufactur ing facilities would be allocated to particular groups of consumers of material was far ahead of anything that SPAB has in mind, he says. Under this scheme, according to some who have talked about it, a steel mill would be assigned a list of concerns it would supply, regardless of its business in the past. 7 As for the proposal to have whole groups of products concentrated in one or two plants, in order to continue . their production and leave the other plants free to concentrate on defense business, it has not even been mentioned. .

By Eleanor Roosevelt

complex world?” I only hope I was able to contribute something to their course. ; . The rest of Friday I spent in seeing people the Office of Civilian Defense. It is very difficult to do much in the way of planfiing, when I am still

questi in during the night. I wonder that secretary d not rebel at the hieroglyphics oleh he has to deSiphier £m the various letters and bulletins in the morning. : Friday evening I went to St. Elizabeth's Hospi in Washington, to speak to the ‘ nurses. They were such a

. Europe was ahead in figh

Still Strongly Against A. E. F,, Survey Shows

By DR. GEORGE GALLUP

Director, American Institute of Public Opinion

PRINCETON, N. J., Oct. 6.—If a Congressman had time to visit every State in the Union during the recent recess, and to search the

minds of voters on innum-’

erable questions relating to

the war, what would he

have found about the temper of the American public today ? Here's the American Institute of Public Opinion’s estimate of that temper, as derived from continuous nation-wide studies at almost weekly intervals since the war began: First of all, a Congressman covering the eountry from Maine to California would almost certainly have observed ‘that a majority of’ the American people are favoring more

Rol

ures of intervention in the war than at any time in the past 25 months. This is especialy true following President Roosevelt's “shoot-on-sight” speech, which seems to have marked the end of a trend toward relative complacency about the war, dating from the invasion of Russia. Since Mr. Roosevelt's speech for instance, Institute surveys have found a substantial majority (69 per cent of those with opinions) backing the Presidential order to shoot at Nazi submarines and surface raiders on sight. Such a verdict by the American public would have been almost

outright meas- -

unthinkable in the first year of

the ‘war. Also since the President's speech, Institute indexes show a marked increase in the number of Americans favoring a revision of the Neutrality Act. Whereas those with opinions were 2 to 1 against permitting American merchant ships to travel into the belligerent zones of Europe only last April, the latest survey shows 54 per cent of those with ‘opinions favoring such a step. TO SOME CONGRESSMEN and political observers, the present temper of the majority of U. S. citizens may seem like a sudden change, But actually it is nothing of the sort. Institute surveys fully 12 months ago that a fundamental turn had occurred in the tides of public opinion, following the defeat of France and the Nazi blitzkrieg on London and other British cities. The record shows that in the first months of the war, two

REE

UNITED STATES

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WAR TORN ENGLAND “&

QU:

Every Washington commentator and Congressman is making his own estimate of American public opinion today. For two years the

American people have watched the war in Europe—and their verdict has been to stay out. But month by month a majority of American

.

voters have likewise given their approval to numerous steps intended to block and hamper a Hitler victory, even though some of these

have undoubtedly involved risk of war. Today a report is willing to go today, and where it draws the line.

NN i

by the Gallup Poll shows which way U, 8S. opinion has been trending, how far it ® \

Americans in every three considered that it was more important for the United States to “stay

out” of the war than it was for Hitler to be defeated. By September, 1940, however, Institute surveys showed opinion veering in the opposite direction. By the beginning of this year 60 per cent of the voters were saying it was more important to have Hitler defeated than that America should “stay out” of the war. 2 os »

HERE ARE the results of a new test of public opinion just completed on the question: “Which of these two things do you think is the more important,” the Institute asked, “that this country keep out of war, or that Germany be defeated?” Seven persons in 10 with opinions on the question said it was more important for Germany to be defeated.

THAT GERMANY BE DEFEATED THAT AMERICA STAY ouT

Another straw in the wind has been the public's attitude toward

U.S. Still Leads World in

(This is the fourth of a series of articles on the status of American military aircraft.)

By WALTER LECKRONE Times Special Writer

GIANT explosive last summer.

AMERICAN BOMBERS blasted Berlin with tons of high

Sc high that Nazi interceptors often could not climb within a mile of them, so- fast that only the best of the German fighters could

overtake them, so sturdy that ordinary

airplane guns could not destroy

-them, they have raided Germany from end to end, night after night,

for months. Even by German claims—which the British have never confirmed—only one has been forced down (on the coast of Norway) since war began. are last year’s models, and the models of . year before last. There are the Flying Fortresses designed as far back as 1935, and in a good many cases actually built as long ago as 1937. When the United States adopted a policy of aid to Britain the U. 8. Army had 80 of these giant airplanes. An undisclosed number bly about 50— were dispatched to England. Old as they were, they turned .out to be better than Europe's heavy bombers. The nations of Europe —where distances are short—had not foreseen the need for longrange bombing planes. America was ahead, in bombers, Just as

A small but growing stream of

From the west coast factory where they are built they might take

one short hop to Dayton, O., or to .

an Army field even farther East. The, next stop is Botwood on Newfoundland. The next is in the British Isles. ~ ” ” o THESE STEPS leave them

plenty of reserve. The Fortresses |

can carry fuel for 3000 miles and more, From British ports they could bomb cities 1500 miles away

attacked. The bomber fought them off in a 30-minute battle, and landed in England with hall

motor on fire

ns

all but shot away, rid with bullets. But it landed.

THIS MONTH the War Department let contracts for approximately 1000 more—bigger and better and perhaps a little faster Fortresses. This model, the B17E, will have gun turrets on top and bottom ‘and in the tail, to cover vulnerable spots which the new high-climbing Nazis might attack. Speed will be a little more than 300 miles an hour, ceiling a little higher than in the past. Thesé will be built in Boeing factories at Seattle, Douglas factories’ at Santa Monica, Cal.,, and Lockheed’s Vega plant at Burbank, Cal. :

While War Department spokesmen hint of “500 a uction, obviously such far in the future. Sen-

ig from 14 to 21 a month— and while his statement drew in-

HOLD EVERYTHING

~

U. 8S. convoys. Institute surveys have shown a majority of voters favoring convoys in successive surveys since last May. Taken together, indeed, Institute surveys on these and innumerable other issues have foreshadowed public acceptance of virtually every step taken by President ‘Roosevelt and the Administration. In general the surveys indicate that the public has usually been “ahead” of the Congressional majority in matters relating to foreign policy, .

BUT while tle Institute’s surveys point to an increasingly interventionist spirit in such matters as convoys, neutrality revision and the “shoot-on-sight” policy, they also indicate that a great majority still draw the line today at formal entrance into the war or sending an A. E, P. abroad. Long before the war began, Institute surveys revealed that this would be a foundation-stone of U. 8S. in case of a conflict in Europe. In the latest of a long series of surveys on this point, and from interviewing just completed, the Institute finds 21 per cent of those with opinions saying the

United States.“should enter the war now,” while 79 per cent are opposed. There has been remarkably little change in this verdict over the past. 25 months. SEE “ENTERING thé war” means to the .average American sending another A, E. F. abroad, opinion tests show. And the average citizen simply does not want to do this, or believes it could. not or should not be done at this time. Is there a contradiction in American thinking, as some commentators have supposed? The answer seems to be that while the public has been—and still is— against getting into a shooting war abroad, the great majority have always been willing to take whatever steps seemed necessary at any given time to keep the Nazis away from the Western Hemisphere, even if such measures involved some shooting. The public regards aid to Britain (and latterly aid to Russia) as the best means of carrying out this essentially defensive purpose. That is why a majority have approved a long list of measures in the past two years which undoubtedly involved a risk of war.

Heavy Bomber Production

stant fire from Administration spokesmen his figures have never been denied. This totel included also the output of the Consolidated B24, the other major heavy long-range bomber in production. Such craft as the super-giant Douglas B19 and the still>bigger Martin flying boat—twice the size. of the Fortresses—are still experiments, not to be used in war perhaps for years. American superiority has run clear- through the bomber field. U. 8. dive bombers, so far little tried in actual fighting, have pro-

duced spectacular tests and re-

ceived more, under service conditions, in the Louisiana maneuvers. They are faster, more . powerful, more easily maneuverable, superior in every respect to the German Stukas—which U. 8. pilots and

engineers do not consider much of an airplane.

MEDIUM BOMBERS-— The two-motor jobs with ranges of around 1500 miles—have been flying at speeds of 300 to 330 miles an hour. This month improved models, past the stage of experiments went into production.. Two of them can fly faster than 350

miles an hour, and the third has .

done 350 in test flights. Backbone of this classification is the Martin B26. This and the Douglas A20A and the North American B25 constitute most o the medium sizes. :

Lo)

KNUDSEN ASKS

The B26 went into production this month in a giant new plant outside< Baltimore. The Martin plant already was far along with bomber construction when U. S. participation in the war began. Loaded from the beginning with orders from Britain, they had shipped abroad perhaps 500 medium bombers of the type the British call the Maryland. This was not the last word in medium bombers, but it did heroic service in Africa and Crete and around the Mediterranean. : It has been superseded, in British orders, by the Baltimore, a bomber similar to the B26 with RAF modifications, which is in effect just a refinement of the Maryland. Today more than 10 makes of U. 8. bombers, including two of the Flying Fortress type, attack bombers, dive bombers, and the fast medium bombers, are in service in the Royal Air Force. None of them go to dead storage —as some U. 8S. pursuit planes sent abroad have done. Angerican-made bombers were ahead in quality when war began, have stayed ahead as it developed, are ahead now. Ei hg 10 ne a nume‘bers—but not always to fly. : ‘bottlenecks today hold back the stream of war planes that American builders turn out. Planes that cannot fly and that cannot fight are of no more use than no planes at all. America today has hundreds of them—gleaming new models— that can do neither.

NEXT—Bottlenecks.

Bruce P. Robison Post to Celebrate

. IT WILL: BE “happy birthday” for Bruce P. Robison Post 133, American Legion, tonight.

‘Every commander the post has | had is expected to be present at °

the party in the Third Christian Church. The principal speaker will be Vayne M. (Army) ArmSons ng; national vice ‘commander

Col. ‘Will H. Brown, post commander, said. the dinner will be featured by a birthday cake with

(8S “HARD WORK” NEW YORK, Oct. 6 (U. P)—

William 8. Knudsen, Directoy Gene |. eral of ‘the Office of Production | ‘| Management, told a Madison Square |" Garden rally last night that the| Se {victory

BY AND large, Institute surveys show far less difference between various groups and sections of the

Hequntry than- has popularly been

Supe. “ The recent survey on the President’s “shoot-on-sight” speech, for instance, found majorities supporting the order in every section of the country—including the traditionally isolationist Middle West. . On the question of whether it is more important for Germany to, be defeated, or for the United States to-stay out of the war, the surveys show relatively little diference between East and West, Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor: : MORE IMPORTANT

That Germany That U.S. Be Defeated Stay Out

«11% 64

Democrats .“ Republicans ..

New England, . .. ‘Mid-Atlantic .. 70% East Central.. 63 . 64 88 69

Upper Income. 76% Middle Income 74 Lower Income. 65

MINNEAPOLIS LABOR LEADER ENDS LIFE

LIS, Oct. 8 (U. P.).— The suicide of Grant Dunne, 48, today left Minneapolis without one of its three famous labor leaders and the Federal Government with-

out one of its main defendants in

an impending seditious conspiracy trial of alleged Leon Trotsky syme

pathizers. Dunne, who joined with his brothers, Miles and Vincent, to compile one of the stormiest labor records in the city’s history, shot himself to death in the bedroom: of his home Saturday night.’ Grant Dunne, with his brothers

dicted at St. Paul last July on charges that they, as members of the Socialist’ Workers Party, cone spired to overthrow the U. S. Gov= ernment by force. The Socialist Workers Party is the branch of Communism adhering to the late Leon Trotsky. The trial is scheduled for Oct. 20. : The Dunne brothers were the strategists behind the 1934 Minneapolis strikes in which six persons were killed and hundreds wounded.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—-To which President was the nickname “Old Hickory” applied?

Charles Lutwidgé Dodgson?

Tokyo, Yokahama or Osaka? 4—Mickey Rooney appeared with Freddie Bartholomew and Spencer Tracy in “Captains Courage Sime the. mola ci of tip pre ame the home. the professional football team Rr

6—A xylophonist makes plastics, ear

and 26 other defendants were in- .

2—What ‘was the pen-name of ;

x

3—Japan’s most populous city is a