Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 February 1942 — Page 15

THURSDAY, FEB. 5, 1942

Hoosier Vagabond

TIMBERLINE LODGE, Ore., Feb. 5.—The second day of skiing is what takes willpower for a man whose muscles are as soft as mine. When I woke this morning I tried to think where I might have been yesterday. My first impression was that I had been lynched. I = telt exactly as if I had been beaten ‘ to death with sticks, stones and FF blunt instruments. : 2 If I'd had sense, I would simply have built a big fire in the fireplace in my room, put on houseslippers, and settled my sobbing tendons deep into a couple of pillows for a good forenoon’s groaning. But no! I've taken this stuff to heart about France going soft, and England becoming decadent, and 't tie his own shoe. have to gird up my reluctant sinews and ‘there to the hillside again and plug around lapboards. dav, I had decided. I wouldn't go to on class but would seek out some hidden the fir trees, and practice in solitude. Howev ever did get to my private glade. That was due largely to timidity. For, when I got out among the trees, I found I was afraid to strike out on any new trails, and I finally just followed the one I already knew. Naturally that brought me right back to the same slope we were on vesterday, and there were Olaf and the two girls again. They all seemed pleased to see their old fellow-downfaller.

the instruct glade behind

er, In

Not Much Improvement THERE'S no use going into detail about the day's skiing. It was more or less a bad imitation of yvester-

day's awkwardness: 1. I got my ski-pole caught in the snow, ran my

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

ANTON SCHERRER had an article (Footnotes on the 1942 Hoosier Art Salon) in The Times Jan. 19 in which he described the two principal groups of artists—“those operating in Brown County and those not operating in Brown County.” You'll probably remember he added, as a third group: “. . . and Elmer Taflinger, who still goes his own sweet way unmindful of everything and everybody . By the way— Where's Elmer?” Well, Taff has cabbaged onto that article for a bit of free advertising. He's sending out letters quoting a bit of Anton’s .article, .including .the “Where's Elmer?” crack, then adds: “The Answer: Elmer is still practicing and teaching the sound uncompremising truths of true drawing and painting. (By the way—the second semester of his evening figure drawing class begins 7 o'clock Monday, Feb. 2, with no advance in ce.”) Never know what an artist will do, do you?

ho Tasted It?

FRANK H. FAIRCHILD, the lawyer, frankly admits he’s a good cake baker, and what's more he’s never had a cake failure. You see, according to the story. the Fairchilds’ maid declined to attempt a cake and Frank made the remark that anyone could bake a cake. Then he decided to prove it. His wife refused to help, so Prank borrowed a cook book and a bit of advice from his mother-in-law. Then at 7:45 one evening he took over the kitchen and set to work. At 11:45 p. m, he took out of the oven the prettiest little cake he ever saw. At least that’s the way he

Washington

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.—Pearl Harbor woke up many people but it doesn’t seem to have changed Jesse Jones. In the face of unpleasant facts he remains an incorrigible optimist. Mr. Jones blandly predicts to a Congressional committee that we will get all the rubber we need from the Far East by the end of 1943. He doesn’t think the Japanese can keep us out. That kind of optimism ean only do harm. It is one thing to have confidence in ultimate victory. But it is dangerous to underestimate the task of winning that victory To strive to knock the Japanese out by the end of 1943 is one thing But to base our supply arrangements on the assumption that it will happen is taking an unwarranted risk We have only a dribble of synthetic rubber in sight now because for months before Pearl Harbor Jesse Jones didn’t think the Japanese would start a war and he allowed the synthetic rubber program to slide with only the most indifferent attention

It’s Hardest Job We Ever Had

WINNING BACK the Far East is the hardest job we ever undertook. Right now the Administration is making a frantic effort to get through Congress a $500,000.000 loan for Cnina. London is shelling out another $200.000.000. For military supplies? No. To help the Chinese fight “inflation,” it is said. To help Chinese morale, is a more direct way to put it. We simply can't afford to let China drop out of the war. Undoubtedly Japan would like to make peace in China. Undoubtedly Japan is conducting a shrewd propaganda campaign to that end. The battle is going against the united nations all around. We cannot view with any optimism whatever the position of Gen. MacArthur in the Philippines. Singapore is in grave danger. The footholds

My Day

Wednesday.—The meeting last

at a@

pri W

ATLANTA, Ga,

hope I succeeded in clarifying some of the things which were in the minds of certain people. One elderly lady was very much worried, because she lived in a house which had only one story and visualized incendiary bombs dropping right on her bed. This morning I had breakfast with the heads of various women’s groups and answered a good many more questions. Georgia has a civilian defense set-up which varies in certain ways frem the Office of Civilian Defense pattern, but since it is all organized for the same end, I think it will be very easy to adjust. I stopped at the Civilian Defense Volunteer office, which is a very active place and running extremely well. I saw our regional directer, Charles H. Murchinson, last evening, and he is taking hold of his new activities with great energy. Miss Judy, who represents the volunteer offices in the whole region, was here this morning and is doing a very good job. I visited my first filter center and saw how the training was going on there. Fnally, I returned to the hotel to discover that the planes are got flying

By Ernie Pyle

left leg into it, took off about three square inches of skin. 2. To avoid running into a woman, I sat down real quick and twisted my ankle so badly it made me feel sick. 3 Another time, and for no purpose I've been able to figure out, I suddenly sat down with great force and determination right on the back end of my ski. Despite these temporary setbacks, I am learning a great deal about skiing. Not learning how to do anything, of course, but learning a lot of little facts you could put in an encyclopedia. For instance: Even though the day is cold, you actually do keep warm skiing, and you don’t have to bundle up much. Skiing is mighty hard work. Falling down is nothing to be ashamed of. Everybody falls down.

Come on, Ernie, Relax! SKIS ARE the awkwardest things. Mine are six and a half feet long, and I'm convinced five feet of them are superfluous and an impediment to the usual fine grace of my movements. Friends had assured me that, after three days, 1 would be skiing moderately well down gentle slopes from 100 to 200 yards. These friends over-estimated me. So far I can't ski more than 50 feet down a slope, and then I always tumble at the bottom. The main trouble with trying to learn to ski when you've reached my palsied status is that you just can’t relax and throw yourself around. I'm as rigid as a bar of steel when I start down a slope. The way to ski is to float like a flag in the wind. Another trouble is that my joints are too stiff They've always been stiff. I was an old man at five. In skiing you have to twist your legs and your body and frequently spraddle out like a ballroom dancer. Why, today I had my legs stretched out so wide I couldn't even see my feet, and Olaf kept yelling, “Wider! Wider!” If I had got any wider you would have heard a ripping noise and all Pyle would have been divided into two parts.

tells it. And the reason he’s never had a failure is that he never tried another, and probably never will,

Nipping the Nips LESTER A. HALLER leaves for Florida Sunday for a week's holiday with all expenses paid, as the result of a little suggestion he made at the R. C. A. plant where he works. He and Robert Groce won the two major prizes for the best suggestions made by R. C. A. employees for the reduction of costs and speeding of national defense production. Mr. Groce is on a job from which he can’t be spared, so he'll receive $200 and a week's extra salary—in war savings bonds—in lieu of the vacation trip. Under the R. C. A. suggestion system, employees submit their plans on regulation blanks from which their names are removed before the plan is considered by officials, If it is adjudged feasible, the employee gets a reward. . By the way, whiten R. C. A.'s new “Beat the promise” campaign gets under way, the slogan will be: “Let's put the squeeze on the Japanese.”

About Sappy Stuff

TO MOST PEOPLE, the steady rain yesterday was just a darned nuisance. But to the Water Company, it meant a rise in the river level and a probable decrease in the numerous customer “inquiries” about “that funny taste” in the water. The river just needed more dilution. , . . And to the maple sugar lovers, the rain means more maple sap. The sap can’t do much flowing if there's no water in the ground for the trees to draw. . . . John Kleinhenz can’t see why the stores should offer any apologies for having to eliminate special deliveries. Paraphrasing “the women’s reason,” he suggests they merely explain: “V-cause.”

By Raymond Clapper

of the Occidental nations in the Far East are being shaken and it is but natural that the Japanese will attempt to wring the full propaganda value out of that situation. After the Japanese advance is checked we must face a long hard struggle to drive them back to their home base. Nobody who is informed about the miiitary task views it as an easy one or a short one,

The Pearl Harbor State of Mind

MAYBE WE SHALL come out better than that. But in planning supplies essential for war purposes, we cannot base our estimates on a mere hope that things will turn out better. We must assume the worst and be prepared for it. The trouble at Pearl Harbor was that no one assumed the worst would happen. We cannot count on the Japanese handing over the rubber plantations intact by the end of next year. We must proceed now as if we never expected to get them again. If everybody took the attitude which Jesse Jones is encouraging, we would overnight fall back into the slackness which existed before Pearl Harbor. It is not safe for anyone to assume that he can drive his car as much as he likes and count on getting new tires at the end of next year. If the country gets into that state of mind our whole war effort will bog down. To produce the war goods required, we must press and drive and sacrifice ruthlessly. Nothing short of that will give us what the fighting forces must have. This job cannot be done with labor insisting on double time for Sunday, welders striking in a row about union dues, industrialists insisting on abnormal profits, or cotton senators trying to sabotage the ef- i fort to hold farm prices in balance. Those are all expressions of the Pearl Harbor state of mind that Jesse Jones seems to share. That state of mind came near to being the death of Britain. It was the death of France. Our existence as a first-rate nation is at stake literally. We cannot lose this war and remain a first-rate nation. This thing is serious and it is about time we all took it so.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

through to Chicago, and we have to take a train. I hope I stiil shall be able to see some of the Chicago regional civilian defense people tomorrow morning at breakfast in Chicago. Many of you will remember the very sad loss of our ferry pilots in the crash of the air liner somewhere near Las Vegas. The commanding officers, with a deep appreciation of what the loss of these boys meant, not only to their families, but to their country, wrote and wired to the mothers and the wives. . The answer which came from one mother has been sent to me. Since I am not giving her name, I know she will forgive my using it, because of the help it will bring to a great many other people who are suffering as she is. “Your telegram of sympathy has conveyed to me something of the dignity of my position. To feel that my country is sharing the loss of my son with me is the greatest honor I could ever hope to obtain. “Surely, I who worship a true God, will not permit the littie pagan mothers of Japan to surpass me in courage, service and love of my country. You are great generals and your very greatness makes you feel the need of divine guidance, I am sure. May you be given keen insight and vision and wisdom for your heavy tdsk.” Such faith Sud, coirase Snoud Tian ue rust of us, a

POSES PULLLE

Rep. Van Zandt, Naval Re-

concerned

puzzled today about what control, if any, they have over members of Congress. -

Rep. James E. Van Zandt (R. Pa), a Reserve officer in the Navy who recently was on active duty with the North Atlantic Patrol. to daily and weekly newspapers in his district a weekly “News From Washington” mimeographed letter.

Zandt wrote:

the Atlantic fleet, I preceded the, American Expeditionary Force to Ireland, having landed at

by Mr. Van Zandt, which are of the sort newspapers have been asked not to publish.

tude for being told how he had infringed censorship policy.

cording to Mr. Van Zandt, enabled him to prevent publication of the information in newspapers of his district.

P.).—A former Logansport youth, Eugene Fidler, 18, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Fidler of Milwaukee, was killed in the sinking of a naval tanker, according to word received from the Navy Department by thi youth's grandparents here! ;

SECOND SECTION

Chapter IV—The

Isles of Courage

WITH THEIR motherland overrun by German armies,

their Queen and Government London, their homeland cities

living in dangerous exile in being wrecked by the bombs

of the Royal Air Force, the Dutch in the Netherlands East Indies lived in fear of two things from May of 1940 until

December 7 of last year.

First they feared Japanese armed invasion of their rich archipelago, and second they feared that such an invasion

might succeed for the same

reason that the invasion of

Holland succeeded—Ilack of advance co-operation by the highest authorities of adjacent areas threatened by an

aggressor nation.

Britain and France hesitated to confer in detail on defense with the authorities of Belgium and Holland; such conferences might have been labeled “hostile collusion” by Germany—might have been used as an excuse for an attack. Nevertheless, the attack came, and one of the reasons it succeeded with such stunning rapidity was because of the lack of advance teamwork against a

common threat.

“Why defer planning to take joint action?” asked

Batavia. Japan was openly al Japan's admirals and genera

lied with Germany and Italy. Is and Cabinet members all

openly proclaimed the intention to continue the southward

expansion program. They sa

id it was “manifest destiny”

and that no nation or group of nations would dare to offer

opposition.

It was because of the lack of existence of a common defense plan that the Netherlands East Indies might a

year ago have been called th

e isles of fear.

+ But they were also the isles of courage, the isles of

active preparedness and the

isles ‘of grim determination

to blast and ruin the achievements of more than three

centuries of colonial development if there arose the necessity of finally surren-

dering to the invader. 2 ”n 2

Bombs Are Planted

THE NETHERLANDS East Indies were stunned with the suddenness of Holland's capitulation in May of 1940. Rapacious Japan was not far over the northern horizon and immediately began to move south, exerting pressure first against the helpless French in Indo-China. But the panic was only momentary. Within a month after Holland's fall the whole life, effort and thought of the leaders of the Netherlands East Indies became

devoted to three aims: first to make their islands defensible as quickly as possible; second to mine and prepare to destroy everything of any value to any conqueror on any island upon which the Japanese may effect a landing, and third to develop production and expand trade as rapidly as possible—not for their own enrichment but to aid their exiled government in London, and their ally the British Government, in the acquisition of more and ever more foreign exchange with which to help finance essential war purchases.

Let there be no doubt or minimizing of the determination to surrender only useless ruins if the Japanese do land. The bombs

Soldiers of The Netherlands East Indies Army aim a modern anti-tank gun of a type now in action in defense of Holland's three centuries of colonial development.

and dynamite charges were planted a year ago, and the switches are ready to hrow,

Covet Oil of Borneo

THE JAPANESE covet oil and refineries that can make high octane gasoline for airplanes. Borneo has oil in plenty, and at the harbor town of Balik Papan there are gigantic refineries. But if the Japanese seem about to effect a successful landing on Dutch Borneo, then Balik Papan will go up with a roar that will be heard clear across the Straits of Macassar. There will be no docks left at which Japanese ships could tie up. The refineries will be smoldering ruins. The pipe lines Into the interior, some of them 70 miles in length, will have been destroyed at more than a score of key places. The oil wells themselves will have

” u

been dynamited and will be either :

flaming beacons against the blue of the Borneo skies or hopelessly choked to great depths. The British have already followed this

vo\® oet® om oo LoS

DUTCH EAST INDIES

Population: 60,750,000

: Makossa |

* rLores

Area: 735,267 sq. mi.

o + TANIMBAR Arafura Sea

Scale of Miles ———

0 400

This is the island empire the sturdy Dutch and their colonial army are defending so valiantly against

the hordes of Japanese invaders.

FOR CENSORS

serve, Sorry He Wrote of Trip to Ireland.

By FRED W. PERKINS Times Special Writer

WASHINT TON, Feb. 5. —Officials with keeping valuable nformation from the enemy were

The problem was precipitated by He sends out

In the current issue Mr, Van “On my recent tour of duty with

the first week in January. We

found an American base, cent completed and The blanks represent details, given

Mr. Van Zandt expressed grati-

Disclosure of his inadvertence, ac-

EX-HOOSIER DIES AT SEA LOGANSPORT, Ind, Feb. 5 (U.

AURORA, Ill, Feb. 5 (U. P).— Edward Westert, filling station operator, found that too much busi-

ness can be very embarrassing, espe-

cially when the customers are competitors. Mr. Westert was the sole operator among 80 in town who did not close shop at 7 p. m. Shortly after 7, a battered wreck of a car pulled up at Westert's gas ump. “Check the water, oil, windshield wiper, clean the windows, and give me a gallon of gas,” said the customer,

Business From Competitors Getting Too Embarrassing

Mr. Westert serviced the car, and the owner gave him a $20 bill to pay for the 18-cent purchase. Hardly had the wreck wheezed down the driveway, until another jallopy pulled up. Same request, same purchase, and a $100 bill. Within a short time, the driveway was filled with a caravan of antiquated cars waiting for service, all of them manned by Mr. Westert's competitors. . Finally, Mr. Westert found it necessary to sit down and wait, too. He was out of change,

HOLD EVERYTHING

1942 BY NEA SERVICE, INC T. M.

REG. U. S. PAT. OFF.

TH dat, tak i¥s ven yutsladic of yuu to be picketing tho Avy :

like this!

ME Teun

plan in Sarawak and in North Borneo. There is nothing haphazard in these plans for destruction. Everything has been carefully mapped out by competent engineers, and the universal slogan is: “Assure such a degree of ruin that an invader will have neither "produce nor profit for at least two years ahead.” On the Island of Java the port facilities, all electric power plants, the railways, dams at reservoirs, telephone exchanges, bridges and highways will be dynamited, as will the naval base at Sourabaya. On the smaller islands off the southern coast of Sumatra the rich tin mines will be dynamited and flooded, and on Sumatra itself there will be wreckage of the oil wells and reduction plants precisely as there vill be on Borneo.

Hoped and Worked

FOR 19 MONTHS after Hitler overran Holland, the Dutch continued to hope for powerful and openly declared allies like the United States and Britain, and the Netherlands East indies were doing much more than preparing to destroy the riches of their island empire if the Japanese landed. They were planning and training and working day and night to prefect their very extensive defense plans. That they planned effectively, not only for defense but also for offensive warfare, was shown during the first few weeks of the war, Unattacked, at that time, their planes and destroyers nevertheless sought out the Japanese Navy and troop transports off Malaya, off the Philippines, and wrought havoc amongst them. These Dutch islands are truly an empire in extent and n population. The combined land anc sea area is about the size of the continental area of the United States and extends far both north and south of the equator. The total population is about 70,000,000 people, of whom about

Model Planes—

PUPILS TO HELP INU. S. PROGRAM

They’ll Build Tiny Planes To Help Air Cadets Recognize Craft.

Air - minded Indianapolis high school pupils can do their part in

model, here is the latest:

the Nation’s war effort. A nation-wide aircraft model building program is now under way designed to assist in the training of Naval personnel and civilians. The program calls for 500,000 model planes to be used so that Navy men and civilians will recognize the different makes of planes now in use by the warring nations. Dr, C. T. Malan, State superintendent of public instruction, said, “We expect to co-operate in every way with the Government's demand.” Plans to Be Furnished

Plans and specifications will be furnished by the U. S. Office of Education which will administer the program in co-operation with all State departments of education. Models are expected to be coming off the assembly line in public and private high schools soon. Dr. Malan said high school “aircraft factories” in Indiana would be required to turn out 15,000 models and the first set of working drawings will be sent to schools by Feb. 23. Qualified inspectors will check every model submitted and students completing stated quantities of models passing inspection will receive certificates from the Bureau of Aeronautics and the Office of Education.

o 2

As for you model airplane builders who are weeried about getting engines for your gas planes and rubber for the common propelled type of

|2—What

45,000,000 live on the Island of Java alone, Sumatra is the world's fifth largest island has a popula= tion of 9,000,000. The group includes half of Guinea, the world’s third largest island, four-fifths of Borneo, the fourth largest island in the world, and all of Celebes, ”n

Islands Everywhere

THE WORD “ISLAND,” to most Americans, suggests a body of land rather unimportant in size. But Jave is almost as large as New York State, and Sumatra is seven times as large as Java. The collective land area of all the islands of the Netherlands East Indies is, in fact, nearly three times that of the State of Texas, The sea distances are as amaz- g, ing as the land areas. Singapore is nearly opposite and just east of the middle of the Island of Sumatra, but from Singapore to Batavia, on the northwest coast of Java, the distance by ship is 525 miles. From Batavia to Macassar, on the Island of Celebes is 769 miles. From Macassar to Balik Papan on Borneo, “just across the Straits,” the distance in a straight line is 318 miles. From Balik Papan to Manila, the route leading through the Macassar Straits and across the Sulu Sea, the distance is 1114 miles. And night and day during that trip there is scarcely a single hour when picturesque and fertile islands are not in sight on either side of the ship. These uncounted islands, narrow channels, dangerous reefs, afford excellent places for units of the American Navy to play hide-and-seek with the Japanese Navy. But the Japanese also have a chain of islands of their own, and unhappily for us they stretch north and south along the western Pacific, between Honolulu and Manila. Therein lay one of the main causes for Japan’s initial successes after her surprise attacks upon distant American territory.

NEXT—ON THE ALERT.

model airplanes still hope to be allotted metal to continue production despite the warning of a War Production Board representative that all aluminum and steel is needed for the war industry. As yet, the WPB has not issued an order cutting off metal to the model plane industry. It has been estimated that the model engine industry annually uses enough aluminum for two bombers,

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—Name the capital of The Netherlands East Indies. is tne abbreviation of Admiral? 3—Are native-born Chinese and Japanese citizens of the United States eligible to serve in the armed forces of the United States? 4—What island did Amendment concern? 5—In what cause in Great Britain was Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst interested? 6—Was Vermont one of the orige inal 13 states? T—Name the U. S. Secretary of State who negotiated the pure chase of Alaska from Russia. 8—A :libuster delays or speeds legislation?

the Platt

Answers

1—Batavia, Java. 2—Adm, 3—Yes. 4—Cuba, 5—Woman suffrage. 6—No. T—William H. Seward. 8—Delays. 2 8 8

ASK THE TIMES

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