Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 March 1942 — Page 11

i Hoosier Vagabond By Ernie Pyle|

ARCH 17, 1942

SAN DIEGO, March 17.~I've heard’ a few funny * soldier stories here in this soldier-sailor town. One of the best has fo do with a new contingent of draftees, among whom there happened to be several lawyers, and they happened to be

things to eat and drink, making army life more comfortable for themselves. = But the oldtimers pulled a fast one on them—they’d take the money and never bring anything back. And because of their su3 perior rank they figured the newcomers would be afraid to squawk. Well, the lawyer-soldiers didn’t squawk, but they solved the problem all right. They got together one evening, talked .the situation over, and then called on their cheating superiors. They read them the Constitution, the army regulations, and certain sec‘tions of California law dealing with larceny and embezzlement. Then they summed up the case in good courtroom fashion. Before it was over they had the perplexed noncoms looking right through the penitentiary gate. \ So now ‘the situation has reversed itself, and th “wise” noncoms are running errands for the lawyers with no pay at all! The commissioned officers in charge have heard about it over the grapevine, but they're just putting their tongues in their . cheeks

Gone, but Not Forgotten

HUMAN CHARACTERS have gone through the mill of this column by the hundreds over the years. - Some of you who read the column regularly may wonder sometimes what has happened to So-and-So whom ‘we: wrote about years ago, Of course I never

hear again of most of the people I But now and then comes news of some certain kind of news has been much in cently. My friend “Sunset” Cox, the old C after 40 years .in the Orient was os California with tuberculosis, has 5 enthusiasm stilled. “Sunset” is dead. He wa 70, but to me he seemed my own age. known anyone who enjoyed every minute more than “Sunset.” He didn’t live in And Uncle Steve Whaley is gone, too. at Gatlinburg, Tenn. Uncle Steve is the farmer who turned into a rich hotel j the tourist fad struck the Great Smokies. Unele Steve was a sly one. : Bear Pen Holler university, and “didn’t know nothin’ about nothin’” But he got rich, and loved it in his whimsical mountaineer way. Life was worthwhile for him, too.

The Gift of Life

AND GONE ALSO is Adrian Egbert, the man who lived luxuriously in caves at the south entrance to Death Valley, and who figured he'd be safe from bombing, if bombing ever e. But he couldn't wait to see. And gone too is Scotty—na, not “Death Valley Scotty”—but another Scotty you may remember, the old Australian who lived in squalor on the banks of an irrigation canal at Phoenix, Ariz, and kept around him constantly 100 stray dogs, goats, burros, cats and other forms of animal life. He drowned last fall while swimming the canal. I do not know what became of his animals, : As I back upon these men, it seems to me that those people who have within them the capacity for being a little different from the ordinary run of men—difference enough, for instance, to make them characters in a column—have had better lives than the rest of us. All four of these men had an enthusiasm for being alive. None of them was humdrum. It is a

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Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

TIRED: OF RACING from his bedroom to another room to answer the telephone late at night, Ray Smith, the governor's secretary, finally has moved his bed into a room that has a phone. The other night a

' newspaperman phoned him a little after midnight

and inquired: “Did I get you out of bed?” “Where in heck did you think I'd be at midnight?” exploded Ray. . . . Russell Handy of Greenfield isn’t the least bit superstitious. In fact, he held up filing his candidacy for state senator from Madison, Hancock and Henry counties until last Friday, the 13th. It was his birthday and he thought it might be a lucky date for him. . « « Theyre having a parking campaign on the Butler campus, : with Arthur 8. Kendall, bursar, cracking down on violators. The first three times students park on prohibited drives on the campus they will receive warning notices. The next time a $1 fine will be added to the violators tuition. From then on, it’s a half price rate—50 cents per violation.

Young America 7’ +3. DWIGHT PETERSON'S’ young son “Johnny re--turned from school the other day and told about an air raid drill in which the pupils went to the basement and got under tables and. other objects. "Asked what he thought about during the drill, Johnny replied: “I was wishing it was a real air raid so I could see what one is like” . , . From the library we learn that Miss Elizabeth Ohr, head of the music department, was reading “Living Musicians,” by Ewen, last Thursday and ran across this reference to Ezio Pinza: “Superstitious to a fault, he believes that Friday and the

number 13 are lucky for him,” The next day she picked up a paper and read: “Ezio Pinza, operatic basso, is locked up as enemy alien.” The date: Friday the 13th.

Going, Going, Gone VIC SEITER, controller of the Gas company, was out of his office quite a while Saturday morning. When he returned he found a note from his secretary, Elizabeth Taylor, reading: “I have a ride to New Castle and am leaving early, Okay?” Below that was: “I have left, I mean.” , . . Maxwell Droke reports that a small trucker here, named Wolfe, has labeled his solitary truck, “The Lone Wolfe.” , . . The marquee of Hotel Washington, we're told, bears the legend, “Din and Dance.” . . . From the Lion’s Roar. we learn that it takes a working force of 52 persons to keep the 17-story Merchants Bank building operating, The source of the information is none other! than Maurice G. Butler, the building manager,

Candy, Cigars and Cigarettes

FRANK DEWALD of the state WPA offices was passing out the candy, cigars and cigarets Saturday. It was a baby girl born Friday night. Incidentally,

“we hear there were ‘some rather pasty faces ‘among

those that chose the cigars. . . . One of our nerth side agents reports that a woman stopped in a market and bought all the canned Japanese crab meat they. had—$24 worth. . . . Last summer Ham Welling fished over half the state of Wisconsin without getting a single fish, His guide felt pretty bad about it. The

other day Ham received an express package from the] -

guide. It contained 10 crappies. Ham wrote a letter telling how nice the fish were, The big fibber; they all were spoiled.

The Russian Drive ‘By Ludwell Denny

WASHINGTON, March 17—Loss of the allied Asiatic fleets in the Java sea battle, coming on top of continuous Japanese land victories and the immediate threat to Australia and India, is the bitterest dose this country has had to swallow since Pearl Harbor. If there was any lingering doubt that the United States is in peril, presumably we will kid ourselves no longer. It is high time. Nothing short of immediate allout effort on the production front and on the fighting front will do. But our deteats of the first three months are terrible enough in fact without exaggerating them, Despair can cripple us as quickly as over-confidence: We must beware these sudden and extreme swings in public temper. Just as Japan was never the pushover our pollyannas supposed, so she is not now as invulnerable as some of our pessimists are coming to believe. ‘ Indeed, Japan’s greatest apparent strength at the moment is her worst weakness. She has gobbled up so much so fast, she will have trouble holding it. She is a lon from home, and every step she gets farther away. Her communications are stretched to the

breaking point. It's a Long, Long Line SHE HAS TAKEN vast areas of land and sea with-

out consolidating those gains. It is not necessary to

go into history, which is full of military victories which

turned into failures for this reason—Hitler's precipi-

, in New York people with whom

tate push .into Russia and his resulting retreat is a current example. And Hitler at the gates of Moscow was in his own backyard compared with the cosmic spread now attempted by Japan. More and more ships and planes and men will be required to hold Japan's new overseas conquest, all based upon an exceedingly limited productive capacity in distant Japan. MacArthur continues to bleed her in the Philippines. And now the “defeated” Dutch are carrying on'large-scale guerrilla warfare in Java, Sumatra and the Celebes.. : The riches of the Indies on which the conquerors counted so heavily—the tin, rubber and oil—have largely been destroyed. Some of them can be reclgimed in six months or a year, but shortage-ridden Japan needs them now—and allied bombers will have a lot to say to her repair crews before the year is out.

She’s Far From Victory

THEN THERE 1S that matter of the long Jap supply line of ships. Americans are just getting a taste of what a few Nazi submarines, operating from Europe, can do to shipping along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean. ; Our submarines can and will do more to Japan's lifeline. And while our fleets strike at her exposed sea flank, allied bombers from China bases will be hammering her other flank. Added to that is Japan’s old nightmare of attack

' from Alaska and Siberia, which is apt to be more

than a bad dream before she is through. Japan has won the first round and the easiest. But she is far from final victory. The United States will not stay on the defensive forever.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

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Simple Rules To Keep Your Tires Rolling

This is the second of a series of articles on how to economize during war-time. Save the articles. They will come in handy."

By TIM TIPPETT THERE ISN'T anything quite so useless as a shiny 16-cylinder Cadillac without tires.

However, Leon Henderson estimates that there are going to be some 22,500,000 such “objects” in the United States, once their present tires are worn out. You probably own one of those 22,500,000 cars. What can you do about it? Well the rules for prolonging the life of your tires are simple. First—and most important—is- to avoid high speed at all times. “A tire which would give you 20,000 to 25,000 miles of service at moderate speeds (30 to 45 miles an hour) ‘may give you no more than 10,000 to 15,000 miles at speeds ranging up to 60 and 75 miles an hour. # # »

HIGH SPEED injures tires mainly because of the heat which

1. A mechanical Seabiscuit . , . jumps the traffic light.

2. The law says 30 m.p.h. . 3. Careless parking . . .

is generated. Not only is the tread actually burned off, but the sidewalls are weakened considerably. : Just remember this: Tires give only half the mileage at 65 miles an hour that can be obtained at 40 miles an hour. And 10 times more tire wear occurs at 50 miles an hour on a curve than at 50 miles an hour on a straightaway. The second most dangerous enemy a tire has is improper inflation. Tire pressure ought to be checked at least once a week. A tire which is one-third under-in-flated wears out twice as fast as one correctly inflated. It is estimated that the ordinary tire loses

approximately two pounds of pres-

« « So does common sense. a form of tire suicide.

sure a week. So there's the best reason for your weekly checkup. Over-inflation is almost as bad as the other extreme. If a tire is “too hard,” the center of the tread takes the brunt of the wear. Over-inflated tires tend to bounce and spin and each time this happens off comes some of the tread rubber.

Keep Wheels in Line.

PERHAPS THIRD in the list of tire enemies is badly aligned wheels. A wheel which is onehalf inch out of line drags 87 feet sideways every mile. That statement alone should convince the most skeptical that alignment is

# »

2 ‘BROWN MEN ATTACK SCOUTS

Nevada Canyon to

Investigate Battle.

BOULDER CITY, Nev., March 17 (U. P.).—Armed forest rangers attempt today to scale the sheer wall of El Dorado canyon, where Pvt. William P. Colley reported he had engaged in a gun battle from Saturday afternoon until yesterday morning with two swarthy men. Pvt. Colley, who is stationed at Camp Sibert and is master of a boy scout troop, said he had led a group of scouts on an overnight hike down the Colorado river. He said that as they entered El Dorado canyon, they were fired upon from a cave above. One youth exhibited a canteen with a bullet hole in it to convince skeptical authorities that they had been fired upon by “several little brown men.”

Leader Exhausted *

‘A party of 10 forest rangers attached to the bureau of reclamation investigated the youths’ reports and found Pvt. Colley exhausted in the canyon. They had planned to scale the cliff yesterday, but had unsufficient equipment. Pvt. Colley described to them how he laid siege to the cave for two nights and a day, using his service pistol and 24 rounds of ammunition. “We entered El Dorado canyon late Saturday afternoon and were moving along slowly when a shot rang out,” he told the officers. “It was followed by more shots from above. I had the boys deploy themselves behind rocks and soon found we were being fired at from a cave about 1000 feet up the trail .. Sends Scouts for Help “I returned the fire and then setfled down to find out what it was all about.” 4 As soon as he heard the gunshot, Pvt. Colley sent four of the older scouts to Boulder City for help.{

brown men in a cave.” . The rangers listened to their reports and set out to investigate. Pvt. Colley said he was certain he had hit one of the assailants :

VOTERS REGISTER TODAY,

TOMORROW | E

Hearing Set on

A public” hearing will be held,

The properties of the gas com-

pany have been under lease to the city-owned Citizens Gas and Coke utility since 1935.

Purchase of the properties, in-

cluded about 600 miles of gas mains, would end six years of litigation between the city and the gas company over a 99-year lease.

Council Gets Ordinance

The bond issue ordinance was

introduced before the council last night only a few hours after the Citizens Gas and Coke utility had reached . an agreement directors of the gas company to purchase the latter's properties.

with the

Attorneys for the city’s utilities

district estimated that purchase of the properties would save the city about $20,000,000 in rentals over the period of 70 years the lease would run

The city inherited the 99-year

lease in 1935 when it acquired the Citizens Gas Co. which had entered into the lease in 1913.

P. 8S. C. Must Approve The city’s steps to purchase the

properties cannot be completed un-| til the deal is approved by the Public Service commission and the stockholders of the gas company.

The council last night voted down

sections of a proposed zoning ordinance that would have permitted erection of double houses on 40-foot lots in the vicinity of Butler fieldhouse and on E. 46th st. near the

Marcy village apartment buildings.

HOLD EVERYTHING

Bond Issue

To Buy Old Gas Property

The ordinance was stricken from

12xt Tuesday night by the city, the files after large delegations of Ranger 0 : council on a proposed ordinance| residents protested tHe change on gers to Scale Wall of council on a proposed ordinance $7,000,000 bonds to purchase prop- | erties of the old Indianapolis Gas values in those neighborhoods. Co.

the ground that rows of double houses would depreciate property

The ordinance was defended by

George Whelden, city plan com-|

mission member, and George Rooker, secretary engineer of the commission, on the ground that the zone change was necessary to provide couble houses for defense industries.

“The purpose of the ordinance is

_|to stimulate growth of the city,” de-

clared Mr. Rooker. “The ordinance is just part of long range planning for the city,” Mr. Whelden said. The council postponed action on a proposed ordinance to rezone land at Madison ave. and Raymond st. from industrial to business use. An ordinance was introduced to appropriate funds for the hiring of 11 additional employees at Munici-~ pal airport to meet Civil Aeronau-

tics authority war-time regulations.

The measure creates the post of assistant airport superintendent at $2100 a year.

DAHLIA SOCIETY HERE WILL MEET TONIGHT

The Inidanapolis Dahlia society will meet at 8 o’clock tonight in the Brookside park community house. George Cannon will speak on gladiolus and Dr. A. E. White will discuss . “Soil Preparation and Dahlia Fertilizaation.” The American Dahlia society, of which the ‘local society is a member, has urged its membership to hold their shows as usual this fall and to co-operate in all war efforts.

By Clyde Lewis

terribly important in preserving your tires. ; Incorrectly aligned front wheels will scrape the tread from one or both front tires. Alignment should be checked fairly often, for wheels which are correctly aligned today may be jolted out of line tomorrow, Be sure and have your tires criss-crossed every 3000 to 5000 miles. You can get longer wear from your tires by using the spare along with the other four. By alternating all five tires and changing their position every 4000 miles you add 25 per cent more mileage to the life span of all five. Plan it so that for each 20,000 miles, each tire will have been used for only 16,000. »

Avoid Quick Starts

START AND STOP slowly. Rubber is actually scraped off when your tires spin or skid. Stop trying to beat the other chap when the light turns green. Forget about showing off the pick-up of your car. And keeping your spare tire covered and your car in a garage will aid a great deal in preserving the “shoes” of your car. Sun’ light . . . heat, in any form . . . is Hard on tires. By the same token, so are dirty garage floors where the tires stand in oil, dirt or grease.

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Drive slowly at all times but particularly when hot weather comes. When the mercury climbs to 80, a tire will wear out at least twice as fast as when the temperature is only 40. If you've seen the 500-mile race out at Speed way you have seen for yourself What speed and heat does to rube er.

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| Avoid the Curb

ONE OF THE big “don'ts” is don't drive over curbs or scrape the sidewalls of your tires. You must remember that your tires are rubber only on the surface and their very heart is fabric—fabric that can easily be éracked or torn. Curb and rim bruises may be unnoticeable for thousands of miles. Then one day while rounding a curve the tire will “blow.” So it bolls down to not only a matter of saving rubber but of saving your neck as well. Most fabric breaks result from crushing the tire cords between the steel rim and a curbstone or the edges of a pavement hole, Careful parking and cautious driving is the only preventive for fabric damage. Paste this ‘in your hat: Motorists who won’t heed these warnings now may not be motor ists long. NEXT:

How to feed your family. :

TAX RETURNS BURDEN MAIL

More Than 100,000 Received Last Night as

Record Is. Set.

Between Jan. 1 this year and last ‘night Indiana reached down into ts pockets and came out with an estimated $64,000,000 in income tax. This is by no means the total to be collected during this income tax period. Last night more than 100,000 returns poured into Internal Revenue Collector Will Smith's office. The office staff of 185 persons will work today and tonight until all returns are opened and filed, °

Speed Is Watchword

Speed is the watchword of the staff here and by tomorrow evening all checks written on local banks will already have been cashed by the revenue department. To quote Mr. Smith, the response in Indiana has been “terrific.” Last night's and today’s mail, which was 50 large it was talked of in terms of tons, has set an all-time record.’ Mr. Smith estimates that there is at least $10,000,000 to $12,000,000 in today’s mail alone. : While the number of returns filed this year will not double the number last year, the amount of money will probably be twice as much, Mr. Smith said. :

Far Above 1941 Collections

The collection here bears out preliminary estimates from key cities that the government would collect between 50 and 100 per cent more than a year ago. Over the nation, tax payments for the four days ending last ‘midnight were estimated officially at around $2,000,000,000. , Receipts for the entire first quarter were expected ‘to be about $3,000,000,000—

{more than double the $1,375,000,000

paid during the corresponding

Many Direct Gifts

The tax rates were the highest in history and a record 13,000,000 were estimated to have paid income

.| period last year.

taxes this year, but even so some

MACHINISTS’ LODGE PLEDGES AID TO WPB

A resolution, pledging 100 per cent co-operation to the war production board’s program was announced today by Libby lodge 1452, Interna= tional Association of Ma ts, which is associated with e A. F of L. “We, as employees of a machine tool industry that is a key to our government's defense,” the resolu tion said, “realize and know the great responsibility that rests upon our shoulders to produce the machines that will produce the weapons of war to back up our boys in the front lines.” ; D. J. Danforth is president of the lodge and Williami* Martin is ree cording secretary. ;

SIXTY MEN ENROLL IN FIRST AID CLASS

Sixty men today were enrolled in a class in first aid organized under auspices of the Indianapolis Co= operative council] of the Indiana Funeral Directors’ association. The course of instruction is dee signed to provide emergency care in event of extensive sabotage or an air raid. The council has ambue lances available for handling 78 surgical cases at one time. The class will meet every Monday night for 16 weeks at the Jewish

* WARQUIZ

1—A sentry at the door glanced inside the room and observing the . shoulders, remarked

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