Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 October 1941 — Page 11

Inside Indianapolis tnd “Our Town"

‘WHEN AND IF the time ever comes that we need ‘as civilian defense force, the East Side householders’ will be really. As a matter of fact, home defense already has been perfected in the vicinity of the 2800 block of Brookside Ave. with rifle and shotgun i squads patrolling * backyards * to break up a wave of prowlers, peep- . ing toms and petty thieves infesting the neighborhood. : The resident say police haven't been able to help m ‘The ' squad cars arrive after the prowl- ! "ers have disappeared and of course’ . 'mobody can give any descriptions —you can’t see much in the dark. - As a result, the neighborhood § taking things pretty much in its

ands. On one street, they've. behind

armed | themselves ‘with two dou- ) led shotguns, one’ single batrel, revolver and a half ‘ “stout clubs.

. It’s gotten so that a householder can’t step out his back door fo empty. the garbage without at least a couple of tes popping up from the darkness: and inquiring: ere’re you going there, buddy?— - Hold everything!” a . So They Really Do It ] ATTENTION, PINBALL PLAYERS! : You've: all accused the operators of changing the balls—sub-: stituting balls of different weight—to throw you. off . after you've worked out a “system.” Well, we caught, ~ one operator in the act! He had a little box and in 4t were five spare sets of balls. Just thought -you'd be interested. . . . Ham Welling, the publicist, went to Wisconsin with Mrs. Welling for a 10 days’ fishing trip. Back home again, he swears the fishing is swell ~in Indiana. “We fished up and down Wisconsin for. 10 days, casting until the water’ was. foamy,” he reports, “and not a single fish—not even a‘throw back.” «+ « The recent rainy weather with its extreme humidity has been. playing hob with the Coliseum skating. The rafters were “sweating” so badly that the water dripping on the ice damaged it. So they turned heat into the building. That stopped the

sweating but created such: a fog that skaters report they had to proceed at half speed. ; : Those - Allison Sleuths TAKE A TIP! Don’t try to pull any fast ones on the Allison plant's police force. One of the boys out there was telling the other day about an empty whisky bottle being found beside one of the delicate machine tools. The plant police grabbed onto it right ay. Within an hour, ng to the story, they ‘had checked fingerprints on the bottle with those of employees ‘(they're all on fille) and had traced: the bottle to an employee found to have whisky on his breath. He got the gate. . . . One of our young newspapermen who's - always ‘expecting ‘the worst out of

women - drivers found his fears realized the other] -

evening. He pulled to a stop on-16th St. at Delaware to await the trafic signal's change. Six or.eight feet him was a tru A woman motorist going north on Delaware decided to “a left turn (it’s forbidden there) and tried to cut around our motorist. Instead, she cut too short and had to stop in front of him. Afraid she’d get rattled and hit him, he backed up and smashed .his fender again the truck. While he and the truck driver surveyed the situation, the woman ‘drove on. What woman wouldn't? :

Who's No. 13? LH.

i JIM BRADFORD, -G. O. P. county chairman, shocked some of his more superstitious party workers yesterday when he named a 1942 campaign advisory committee of THIRTEEN: members. To some that sounded like bad luck. But apparently just as a precaution, Jim named both a doctor and an undertaker on the committee, . . . About’ half the local boys in the 113th Observation Squadron, stationed at Camp

Shelby, are home on furlough after the recent maneu-! y : : rand law clerk for Appellate Court

vers. Among them is Bill Myers, former photographer for The Times and now handling a camera for Uncle Sam. Bill says all the boys are. wondering what the Army: will do with the squadron’s home base—Stout Field, now. that the million dollar or -so improvement is nearing completion. Until some particular outfit is assigned to the field, the boys of the 113th are going to keep on dreaming that it will be the 113th, Gosh, how they'd love that. \

* . Ernie Pyle is on leave of absence because of the illness of his wife.

Washington

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8.—Resentment among people in the Administration against the operations of ‘fommy Corcoran has reached. a point which makes it dificult to understand why President Roosevelt tolerates this situation, even though he is under a considerable political debt to the young man. .. Instead of. protecting his Administrative officials from the pressure of an aggressive lawyer ‘who formerly was one of the most powerful men in the Government, and to whom many officials and subordinates are indebted for their jobs, Mr. Roosevelt seems to be standing behind Mr. Corcoran. Ever since complaints have been current about Mr. Corcoran’s : methods of helping his clients, Mr. Roosevelt has tried to find a prominent Government post for him. This effort has been unsuccessful thus far only ;because of the reluctance of officials approached to welcome the intrusion of such a domi‘nating force. : : Details of Mr. Corcoran’s activities in behalf of his clients have been reported in this newspaper by Thomas L. Stokes... iho. won a Pulitzer prize several | ing political manipulation of WPA - and | | ures, although denied by Administration officials, were later confirmed by a Senate investigating committee, :

Another Ticklish Oil Deal

.- SINCE MR. CORCOROAN retired from the Administration to practice. law, he has taken on some difficult cases. ‘One of them was an Alaskan oil case which involved getting by Secretary of the Interior Ickes, who has made it his life’s work not to allow any private interest to put anything over on him. This client wanted to obtain Government funds . for exploitation of Alaskan oil flelds. The royalty scale was- below what Secretary Ickes thought the Government ought to have. Because of his long friendship with Mr. Corcoran and his faith in the young New Dealer, perhaps Mr. Ickes was not on his

Lo .-

Housing..1941 Plan By John W. Love|

~ WASHINGTON, Oct. 8.—If is only now dawning on the construction industry that Government policies and priorities are bringing about a long-deferred revo-. lution in house building. 3 It is intended merely to be a temporary overturn— i for the duration—but parts of it may survive Permanently as an American method of providing shelter. . = ¥The landscape in hundreds of | unities, at any -rate, will be changed permanently, There, traditional styles are yielding to the “modern” or severely simple. - ~The combination of heavy pub- . ~ le financing of houses for factory «workers .and the prices. of houses which private ame builders can. put. up under. the riorities, is taking far more of the work over into Breoaie, multiple methods than the industry ever

Many cities are about to see houses\go up by scores at once, with progressive assembly terials, the workmen moving from unit to unit. methods, with the use of machinery on a greater scale than previously, may result in as many as 100,000 family units going up in this manner. : Most of: thesé are in the belt between northern Virginia and’ Boston, a cluster: around Pittsburgh, another cluster from Canton, O., north to Cleveland, others in the-northern and southern ends of Indiana, and along the Texas coast,’ .

4 Boost for Pre-Fabrication

ALONG WITH THE housing groups to be erected “of traditional | eut ; fi together on the

$6000 limit on |

. more.

By Rayniond Clapper

guard as vigilantly as he usually is. At any rate, he wrote a letter about the project to the Navy Department which left some uncertainty as to whether he was endorsing or opposing the project. However, Secretary of the Navy Knox was later informed that Secretary Ickes had not intended to approve the proposition, and as Secretary Knox was against it, the matter was dropped, saving the Interior Department from the risk of another embarrassing oil affair. ‘ : If the matter had been left to the regular channels in Je Interior Department it would never have had a chance.

Undermining New Deal Ideals

THERE HAS BEEN much dissatisfaction among employees in the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice at the way Mr. Corcoran drove through. a settlement in the case of Sterling Products, Inc. Thurman Arnold, assistant. attorney general in charge of anti-trust prosecutions, has been heard to complain privately about the settlement, in which Mr. Corcoran worked through Attorney General Biddle. Mr. Arnold would not allow his name to go on the press release announcing the settlement, and some of those familiar with thé case termed the statement a whitewash, L : Yet when the heat over this case became uncomfortable, a high Government authority summoned Mr. Arnold back from vacation to hold a press conference in order to quiet the criticism. Mr. Arnold handed out a written statement saying the settlement of the case was eminently satisfactory to himself and to all members of his staff who worked on it. All of this goes far toward undermining the forthright anti-trust campaign which Mr. Arnold has made his career here. This Administration has inspired an exceptional loyalty to public service among its thousands -of younger officials. That has been one of the finest contributions of the New Deal. It has raised the ideals of professional government service . many notches. ; What is to beinasetient on Shese aioe officials, wor on m es, when see cynical kind of funny business going on in the very heart of the New Deal?

cation. Where five years ago the designers of steel houses had the new field almost to themselves, they are Tow practically out of it—excluded+by priorities ‘on steel. : In their place today are the builders of pre-fabri-cated structures of plywood, gypsum and fiber board. By ingenious tongue-and-groove mechanisms they

| hook together series of panels to form walls, floors and

roofs. <The pipes come in the panels, ready to connect. |About 15,000 of these pre-cut houses are to be built by the Federal Works Agency (of which John Carmody is administrator), 1700 are under construction by: the Public: Buildings Administration, and 750 ‘have been or’ soon will be built by the temporaryhousing ‘branch :of the Defense Housing Co-ordina-tor’s office. , : In addition there are a number of privatelyfinanced projects, the largest of which is near Baltimore. There 600 pre-fabricated houses are being erected by a Glenn L. Martin Co. subsidiary to sell to aircraft workers for around $2700 each. In addition there are a number of privatelyfinanced projects, the largest of which is near BaltiThere : 600 pre-fabricated houses are being erected by a Glenn L. Martin Co. subsidiary to sell to aircraft workers for around $2700 each.

‘Demountability’ Is Big Word THE BIG WORD WHICH launched the Government into pre-fabricated housing is “demountability.” The designers never thought of trying to take their

houses apart : yas raat wish as

NEPUTISH LA

CAUSES SHIFTS IN COURT JOBS

Roll Shuffled in Clerk Posts. By EARL RICHERT | went into effect last spring, there

clerks in the Supreme and Appellate Miss ‘Bernice DeVoss, daughter of Appellate Court Judge Huber M. DeVoss, quit working as her father’s law clerk on June 1 and went to work for Supreme Court Judge Curtis W. Roll. And, on the same day, according to records in the Auditor's office, Judge Roll’s daughter, Mrs. Elta Marks, ceased being his law clerk and became the law clerk for Judge DeVoss. : : The third personnel change came last week when John R. Curtis, son

Judge Harvey J. Curtis, announced that he was resigning to enter the private practice of law in Gary.

Blocks G. O. P. Action

John Curtis has worked as his father’s law clerk since 1931. Judge Curtis is a Democrat and rumors had been coming strongly lately from Republican State House quarters that some action might be taken to test the anti-nepotism statute as it pertained to Judge Curtis’ employment of his son. The resignation puts an end to whatever action the Republicans might have taken. The Republicans admit that the employment, of Judge Roll's daughter by Judge DeVoss and Judge DeVoss’ ‘daughter by Judge Roll is legal since the Supreme and Appellate Courts are separate departments. of the government. (Both Judge Roll and Judge DeVoss are Democrats.) : The judges involved declined to comment. However, it was understood that some of them took the view that the anti-nepotism statute did not cover the courts and that the transfers were made only to avoid whatever criticism there might be. Courts Not Mentioned

The law, which was passed by the 41 Legislature, makes no specific mention of the courts. It mentions specifically members of state boards and commissions and state office, department and in-

stitution heads, providing that such|.

individuals may not employ a close relative such as a father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, etc. Whether a Supreme or Appellate Court judge falls within any of these categories is yet to be determined. The judges of the Supreme and Appellate Courts receive a salary of $10,000 a year. Their law clerks are paid $150 a month.

RIVER BILL SAGS BENEATH ‘PORK

this| 200 Pet Projects Used to

Bait 30- States May Crush Measure.

By CHARLES T. LUCEY Times Special Writer WASHINGTON, Oct. 8—The bil-lion-dollar Rivers and Harbors Bill, termed the greatest pork barrel in history, probably will contain about 200 projects bidding for the support of Congressmen from nearly 30 states, it was predicted today. These 30 states have easily 350 House votes, or far more than enough for passage if the bait to be dangled before each state delegation were swallowed whole. They also represent a Senate majority. But opponents expressed a belief today that when the legislation comes from the House Rivers and Harbors Committee late this month

it may be piled so high with pet|

waterways projects that it will fall of its own weight. Many states with projects in the bill will have representatives opposing the legislation.

Bears Defense Label

separate -authorizations, and 50 more are being considered. Many of the projects have béen rejected in earlier years. “National defense” is the label

ects’ thrown out previously. But waterways ‘projects costing many million dollars require years

alto build, and. opponents say they

could not be ready in time to be of value in the present emergency, even granting some legitimacy to the national-defense claims. The controversial St. Lawrence seaway and the Florida ship canal, both previously rejected by Congress, have. been voted into the Rivers. and Harbors. Bill. The St. Lawrence project cost the

30 Projects Above Million

Daughters of DeVoss and

Since the new anti-nepotism law|

has been quite a reshuffling of law]

The bill already contains 150]

hastily tacked onto pumerous proj-|-

The bil also contains the Ten-|

: Here's a “V for Victory” that means something. The planes are Ryan PT-21 primary trainers; the men

are aviation cadets of the Ryan School of Aeronautics at Lindbergh Field, San Diego, Cal. :

Built for Too Much Speed, Critics Say

Editor's Note—This is the last of six articles on U. S. aircraft production.

By WALTER LECKRONE . . Times Special Writer

America’s war birds are all hatched in a storm.

The U. S. air defense program ° has not lacked critics, whether

of the program as a whole or of its most minute detail. : Among them are some of the biggest names in American aviation—men whose patriotism . and sincerity are no more to be questioned than is their technical knowledge. i Among them are Army . airmen, whose . objections, however,

are subdued by the memory of Gen. William A. Mitchell’s court-

martial. Among them are many

Britons who look even a gift plane in the nose. Among them .are

manufacturers, engineers, pilots

and civilian amateurs.

The most concentrated “heat”:

has poured down on the Army's pursuit’ planes. The Army has

continued to build a pursuit plane

too heavy and too slow for combat, long after it know the plane was obsolete, say the critics. ! 8 » #n . “OBSOLETE” is a relative term. “No airplane was ever built that

wasn’t obsolete before it first

flew,” says Maj. James H. Doolittel, one of the greatest Army pilots of all time. The best planes in the air today may seem equally antiquated when thie new planes, which today exist only on drawing ‘boards, are built. : The Army has better pursuit planes now—‘“from the point of view of quality the finest in the world,” says Robert A. Lovett, Assistant Secretary of War for Alr. It is true that the Army now has pursuit planes far superior to the model which has been under fire. It is also. true that most of the airplanes in’ actual Army service today are -of the old and inadequate model, and that production of this model did continue long after the War Department knew i could not stand up in European e.

ON THE ‘other hand; that is exactly the plan under which Nazi | 4

“force is composed ‘type planes. Thousands of are “obsolete” models, by Gi n

Germany got air superiority at the beginning of the war. German factories “froze” on ‘a reasonably good. design, put it into mass. production, and continued to turn it out even after their engineers had better designs completed—though not yet ready for mass manufacture. : ' Not all of Germany's vast air of the newests . em standards—but they are still in Too-frequent ‘basic changes of

models will :block mass-production methods and reduce output, as

: automobile manufacturers learned

long ago. One -American : manu-

‘facturer changed a model in pro-

duction, on British orders, to meet British requirements for a more modern plane. Britain got the new

;plane—but the change may have

. Meanwhile thousands of. American pilots will learn to fly in P40 pursuit planes that perhaps

could not hold their own in battle. .

And meanwhile im ment has gone on by a series of short steps instead of a single long step into » » ” ; NEW-MODEL medium bombers

- were barely “out of their test

flights when serious criticism of them arose. Designers have sacrificed safety for speed, have created flying death traps that come in: at 140 or 150 miles an hour, that cannot land at speeds below 120, that would slide a’ mile on a dry: field if the pilot put on his

- brakes. So ran the burden of this:

complaint. : . Phe manufacturers and the War Department say this is exagger-

ated. War ‘Department specifica-

tions for the B26, for instance, require it to land at 95 miles an hour. It does land at 95 miles an hour. It is true this is a fast landing speed for 28,000 pounds of girplane. Many European - bombers land at 75 miles an hour or less. But they have less speed in the air. 'In any airplane there is a definite relation between top speed

HOLD EVERYTHING

-

Samii

in the air, 'and takeoff and landing speeds.’ - ‘ For heavy ships it is a ratio of about three and one-half to one. A heavy plane that: flies 350 miles an hour will have a landing speed of about 100 miles an hour, and if this landing speed is cut: to 75, the plane’s top flying speed

will be cut too—about three land

one-half times as much—to argund: 275 miles an hour. And that, as a matter of record, is about the speed of Europe’s medium bombers, 8.8» {a FOR BOMBING planes which have to attack objectives hundreds

of miles inside enemy territory,

which cannot be accompanied by a fighter escort to drive off enemy interceptors, an extra .75 miles an hour may mean the difference between life and death to the crew. If the faster landing speed was a real hazani it wo have showa up- in’ numerous accidents. during tests, War Department officials insist. The accident record sa far on the B26 and the others of its type is: an excellent one. There is yet another angle, according to one véteran engineer. Veteran pilots—of the sort who have made aviation history—can fly these new high-speed ships theniselves, but they don’t believe the youngsters can fly them. They look ‘upon today’s terrific: speeds as a man who first drove an auto-

son achieves on the highway with relative safety. But the youngsters fly them as a matter of course—because they never learned anything else. It doesn’t. seem like excessive speed to them. > # os ”

SOME OF the British criticism is well founded--partly because the British got, first, all the old

. models of ‘everything America

had. Some of it is simply a matter of preference—with no more basis than the preference of an Englishman for tea where an American chooses coffee. y Some of it goes deeper. The war will end, some day, and Britain, like. America, lives by trade. Unconscidusly British ‘manufacturers shrink from an admission that any foreign product is better than their own. It shows up in the British custom of naming U. 8.built war . planes. From . Britain

throughout - America. Once they get to the R. A. F'. they are Toma~ hawks, or Marylands, or Caribou.

UNITED STATES manufacturers today make what the War De-

~

Planes Made in U.S. Called Obsolete; A

d

defense contracts in Indiana $70,000,000, of which the State already has exempted $500,000,000 as representing direct sales to the Government. Indiana is interested in taxing $200,000,000 worth of construction contracts awarded to builders on a cost-plus-a-fixed-fee basis.

senting both itself tractor. (

BRANDEIS WILLS

urprise. always lived a simple life. nearly 25 years his income as an active and ‘then retired Justice of the court was $20,000 a year.

ties on the few books written.

Hadasah, New York ganization. . :

DEFENSE WORK

T0 BE TESTED

State Can Collect Million if

Levy Is Upheld in . Court Action.

A test case probably will be filed

soon to determine whether the State can collect gross. income’ taxes on $200,000,000 worth of Government defense construction contracts awarded in Indiana.

Gilbert K. Hewit, director of the

Gross Income Tax Division, said he had received notice from a company engaged in major defense work that it would pay taxes on several million dollars in Government contracts and then file for a refund.

Mr. Hewit said that the State

| would deny the refund and that the. company then could file suit to de- * |termine whether the State right to collect. :

has the:

May Collect Million The director estimated that Ine

diana stood to collect in excess of $1,000,000 in taxes if court action were favorable. :

He explained that Government total

Mr. Hewit, said the Army’ con-

tends the State cannot tax these contractors, - who, under ‘the costplus system, can turn the tax bill over to the Government,

Regarded as Independent Explaining the State's position,

Mr. Hewit said that Indiana regarded companies holding construction contracts as independent operators and not agents of the Federal Government. He said this theory ‘was supported by the fact that contracte ors pay State industrial, social Security, taxes on defense contract work,"

unemployment and other He also pointed out that the added

‘burden of defense work on the State, such as building new roads and additional police and fire protection, warranted some taxation to share the cost.

Mr, Hewit forecast that litigation

prcposed by the ' State probably, would reach the JJ. S. Supreme Court, with the Gov ent repre

d the cone

OVER 3 MILLION

Bulk of Jurist’s Estate

Shared by Charities and Close Kin. : WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (U. P).—

The will of the late Louis D. Brandeis, filed for probate here late yesterday revealed liberal) jurist left an estate of approximately $3,200,000.

that the great

The vize of the estate was a Justice Brandeis i

Before becoming a Justice, howe

ever, he had been an active prace ticing lawyer and it was assumed that (the bulk of his estate was the : result of invested fees received

that period and from royal he had

Charities Get Bequests : The bulk of the estate was left

to the causes he championed— Survey Associates, York, “for the maintenance of civil liberties and workers’ education in the United States”; the University

Inc, of New

Ky. and Palestine | Funds, Inc, and Zionist ore

Justice Brandeis provided a $400, a

000 trust fund for his widow, ‘and $200,000 trust funds for each of his two daughters, Relatively small be-. quests were provided = for - several relatives and scores of other indie viduals were given varying percente age interests in various trust funds.

“Simple and impressive” funeral:

services were held for the Justice at the Brandeis home yesterday.

1—The Panama Canal ‘Zone

4—The high

1—Owned by Panama and I

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

is owned by the United States, Co= lombia, or. Panama?

2--Did President Roosevelt ride In

the inaugural parade Jan, 20, 1941?

3—-To whom are the words, “Et Tu

buted? Cu t grade paper is made from rags; true or false? on

“Brute” at

5-—Is it possible to freeze gasoline? 6—In which Shakespearen play is

the famous balcony scene?

T7—The Sargasso Sea is in the At-

lantic or Pacific Ocean?

8—What rank in the Navy do the’

, students at the Naval Academy at Annapolis hold?

Answers a to the United States in s

2-—-No. 3—Julius ‘Caesar, 4—-True. §5-~Yes.