Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 April 1942 — Page 9

NESDAY, APRIL 29, 1942

SECOND SECTION

Hoosier Vagabond

| Bditor’s Note: Ernie Pyle is in poor health and = taking a rest. Meanwhile, The Times, following reader's desires, is reprinting some of Ernie’s bettermown columns.

PFT. ‘YUKON, ALASKA, July 27, 1937—This is probably ‘the strangest story I will ‘find in Alaska. No matter how far you might wander the earth, for examples of great strength of character, a doubt that you would find a more remarkable specimen that this one. Nine years ago the world had come to an end for a woman in this mosquito-infested village. She had more than she could take.

She led her four children down to the river “Come on, let's go for a little ride in the cance,” .she said. It would be easy. Over the side with them, and herself over last. You live only a minute in this river. The cold water stops your heart. ~ Two of her boys had just been buried mysteriously drowned in the Yukon. The husband had quit cold on the family. Everything ‘was on her shoulders. And they had grown too weary, from 15 years of half-living and scraping and scratching in the Arctic woods and villages. It was time to quit, ‘Nobody cared anyhow.

‘And So Off They Went 'THEY WERE AT the river bank, ready to step

By Ernie Pyle

on the trap-line. It won't be easy, but it will be an opportunity for you to support yourself and the children.” : So she turned trapper. She bundled her four children into a gas boat. The old man went with them. For two weeks they chugged up the Porcupine and its tributaries.’ The baby boy died on the way. They buried him, and went on. They chugged up “the Black river, and up a river that runs into, the Black. ‘Now Pt. Yukon itself is north of the Arctic circle and approximately three-quarters of a mile beyond the end of the earth. But they didn’t stop until they were 280 miles beyond Ft. Yukon. And then they camped on’the bank of a river, under a mountain slope. They built a log house, and fixed it up with stuff they had brought—on a borrowed $2000.

To Town Once a Year

THAT WAS NINE years ago. The three little girls|'

are now young women. The $2000 has been paid back. There is a little in the bank. And they go on trapping. Only nine times in nine years have Mrs, Maud Berglund and her three daughters been back to the “metropolis” of Ft. Yukon. Eleven months of the year they do not see a living soul. They live alone, among snow. and wolves and moose and mountains. Just after the spring ice-break they get into their two gas boats and come down river with their pelts— on a combined vacation and business trip. They sell their furs at auction; and they load their boats with a year’s supply of staples.

GORE SAYS WLB) CAN'T ENFORCE OWN DECISIONS

FDR Leans on ‘Weak Reed”

In Seeking Stabilized Pay, Congressman Writes.

(A few months ago Albert Gore, young Democratic congressman from Tennessee, led an unsuccessful fight for an all-out attack by law on the dangerous cost-of-living spiral. This week President Roosevelt has announced just such an “allembracing program” as Rep. Gore and others have advocated. The chief obstacle to the success of the president’s plan, Mr. Gore believes, it that, instead of proposing control of wages and salaries by law, it assigned the task of

stabilizing wages to the war labor board. ||

We have asked him to tell, in the following article, why in his opinion the war labor board cannot do this Job— the editor.)

By ALBERT GORE Representative From Tennessee

WASHINGTON, April 29.—This

SCHEDULE SET FOR SIGNING UP SUGAR USERS town ¥ nt

‘Monday.

As registration of commercial sugar users neared completion today in Indianapolis and Marion county, times and arrangements were announced for consumer rege istration next week in the elementary schools. Classes of Indianapolis grade schools will be dismissed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons and registrations will be held from 12:30 to 8 p. m. on these days. On Thursday classes will be dismissed all day and registration will beheld from 8 a. m, to 8 p. m. All schodls of the county, with 7 the exception of those in Washinge ton and Warren townships,” will be

I was lucky enough to catch the Berglunds on their annual trip to Ft. Yukon. I spent an evening in their log cabin, and a forenoon with them. I shot their guns at targets, and rubbed their homemade salve on my mosquito bites. And they told me about themselves, as helpfully and as simply as a person can talk. Tomorrow I'll tell you more of their story.

out this week-end and classes will not conflict with the registration. Approve Time Schedule In the schools which are in vacation, registration will be held from 8 a. m. to 8 p. m. Harvey F, Griffey, county superintendént of sc said this morning that Washintton and Warren township schools would probably conform fo the city time: schedules and dismissal plan. A schedule of applying for ration books by alphabet was announced today for the city and county: registration, Families and individudls with last names beginning with the letters “A” through : “D” are to register Monday, : “E” through “J” Tuesday. ’ “Kg” through “p” Wednesday. “Q” through “z" “Thursday,

Little Confusion Here

country’s unfortunate experience with piecemeal price control has thoroughly demonstrated the truth of President Roosevelt's statement that “only an all-embracing program will suffice.” The seven points listed in the president’s message Monday and in his address last night as essential “to keep the cost of living from spiraling upward” constitute an admirable, well-rounded economic war policy. It will be my purpose to assist the president in every way I know in the full appreciation of “every step,” because “no single step would be adequate by itself.” To do so, constructive criticism may be necessary from time to time. °

This scene is typical of the U.S. ferrying command service. This picture, taken in Africa, shows a Douglas transport being serviced at a desert airport.

Labrador Base Astride U.S. Polar Route to Russia and Central Asia

Labrador and: in; Newfoundland, as we were not a year ago, or even three months ago. More= over, this is the season of the great breakup. No longer do the early morning freezeups occur to provide ideal landing fields. Not again until mid-summer will terrain conditions be stabilized. But the whole notion of the Far North as an impenetrable ice barrier against invasion must

into the boat. ‘An old man with leng whiskers came and tapped the woman on the shoulder. “Come walk up to my cabin,” he said. “I want to talk to you.” She barely knew the man. But she walked. And the man said, “I know you don’t wan to go onto charity. You can make g living

3 %i et £

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

ovr KENTUCKY AVE, one of the Targer. factories is putting up a new building. There’s so much noise going on that they've installed a public address system for communicating With workmen on the job.

You can hear instructions several blocks away. . ., .- Comptometer operators in the - Qurtiss-Wright accounting department have been entertained recently by a young sparrow. Daily,

This is the second of a series of articles on America's northernmost military bases. . <

Bicycle vs. Bus

A RUDDY-FACED, blond-haired lad in his late ’teens pedaled his bicycle vigorously north around the Circle and onto Meridian. A N, Meridian bus passed him, Then he repassed the bus when it’stopped at Ohio. From then on out Meridian, the two see-sawed back and forth, first one would pull ahead, then the other. By the time they got to 16th st., many of the bus passengers had begun to notice the race. By

By B. J. McQUAID . Copyright, 1942, by The Indianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Inc.

A LABRADOR AIR BASE.—You're “north of ’53” at this point—by a good margin—and, according to pulp writers, as well as some allegedly scientific students of the Far North, this is supposed to be “the frozen wilds of Labrador” and the “land that God gave Cain.”

es “mwakened by a peculinr od ‘They investigated and found Dickie playing with the

he flies in through an unscreened window, gives the situation the once-over, and then nonchalantly flits out again. . . . Seen on Meridian and Washington: A naval ordnance plant station wagon parked beside the Merchants National bank with the driver and two passengers apparently sound ' ~ asleep. , . . Our DePauw agent } ins in the following note picked up in the school’s music department: “Dear Margie—Will you please be an usher at my recital? (Juanita’s shoes have - holes in them.) Love, M. J.”

Burnie Fingers!

5 DICKIE James, the 21-year-old son of the state “auditor, can’t resist the lure of electrical devices. One day recently he sneaked out of bed about 5:30 a, m. and be investigating some of “mustn’t touch” items. A little later, Mr, and Mrs. James were ting the House.

_electrie corn popper. He had it turned on, and inside he was “popping” onions and oranges. A couple of “days later Mrs. James smelled smoke. She discovered Dickie had found his father’s electric pants creaser, “had turned on the current and was trying to crease * .&- rug. Never a dull moment.

Washington

a Roosevelt is not as drastic in its requests for legislation as many had expected it to be, nor as

~ some of. the president’s advisers had wanted.

stead Mr. Roosevelt leans heavily upon the Sh ‘readiness of the country to make voluntary efforts to win the war, particularly in the matter of voluntary savings as a substitute for taxes and voluntary restraint by labor against further wage increases. : 2 Some in the administration doubt if enough money can be skimmed off and drawn back into government hands by war bond ' purchases and other savings. Some ] " also feel that wages and salaries : need to be brought under ceilings Be same a prices. There are also those in the administration who advocate compulsory savings. 3 . After listening no doubt to hours of debate among : “his advisers, Mr. Roosevelt has elected to lean _ strongly upon voluntary savings and co-operation to ‘assist in holding our economy in balance during these abnormal times. ' He does not advocate lowering of income tax -ex- : emptions, nor a general sales tax, nor other compul- _ sory means of scooping up again the large amounts of money that war expenditures are distributing among 5 the population. In other words a large increase in 3 ‘power is still left floating around and Mr. Ro It is counting upon the patriotic co-operation : the public to turn this money back voluntarily in the form of war bond purchases so to speak. .

There’ 8 a Warning, Though

. THE ONLY CHECK he proposes is more rigid : Nmitation of profits and increases in personal income tax rates although without apparently intending. to broaden the base by lowe: exemptions.

25th st., those next to the windows would smile at the lad as he passed the bus, or vice versa, and he'd smile back. The passengers lost track of him around 32d st., and one remarked that he thought he'd start bicycling to work, if cyclists could keep up with the busses.

Around the Town

THE YO YO CRAZE seems to be sweeping the city with full force again this year. Most any place you look you can see some youngster twirling one of the toys. And the addicts aren't all youngsters, either, . . . We told you several days ago about the courteous driving by a Power & Light Co. employee We find he was H. A. (Rabbit) Farren, foreman of underground lines for the company. By the way, we hear that the utility’s drivers set a new per-mile-per-truck safety record last month. It looks like courtesy and careful driving really do pay dividends. . . . Among the debris noted in the fountain at University park the other day was a whisky “bottle, several beer cans ‘one dead pigeon, . . The latter stirs our curiosity as to what has become of all the people that were raising Cain a year or so ago about all the pigeons downtown and demanding the right to trap or otherwise exterminate the birds. We recall arrangements were made by the city to license trappers, but the pigeons still are there—in even greater numbers.

By Raymond Clapper

The suggestion that taxes be arranged so that no one would have net earnings of more than $25,000 a year probably will not result in a large amount of revenue although it has considerable morale value in reducing inequalities of income during a time of emergency when universal sacrifices are in order. That probably will make more palatable to labor Mr. Roosevelt's desire to peg wages through the decisions of the war labor board. ; But the real warning that the message contains is that either voluntarily or by compulsion we must re-

“WLB a Weak Reed” To rely on the war labor board

for stabilization of “the remuneration received by individuals for their work” is to lean upon a weak reed.”

The war labor board has no stat-

utory authority. It has jurisdiction only over such labor-management controversies as are referred to it. And, even in these. cases, it has no power to enforce its own decisions,

True. enough, employers will gen-

‘| erally conform to its decisions because of the governmeni’s power to seize and operate plants. But it is by no means certain that a decision not acceptable: to organized labor can be enforced by any existing means. + But even thie Hoard could enforce its own decisions; its lack of jurisdiction would defeat its effort to stabilize wages and salaries. Only a small percentage of wage negotia~ tions, or even wage controversies, ever reach the war labor board. It would be quite impossible for the board to handle all the wage disputes constantly arising.

Yet wage increases granted with-

out recourse to the war labor board have exactly the same effect on the upward spiral as would increases that might be granted by the board.

Employers Raids Manpower Furthermore, .one of the most

serious shortages developing in this country is the shortage of manpower. dustries, each ‘others’ labor supply. The “raiding” is done through the offering of higher wages.

Already, in many war inemployers are, “raiding”

The war labor board has no juris-

duce our standard of living during the war to con-|diction or authority to prevent this. serve both materials and money. This reduction must|If an employer with some form of come not alone through rationing and compulsory|cost-plus war contract offers anothwithholding of supplies, but through voluntary per-|er employer's workers better pay, it sonal economies and larger savings. If means stand-|is quite natural for the second emards of dress and living must be revised downward. |ployer to give them still higher pay,

What Will It Cost If We Lose?

UNLESS THAT IS done voluntarily we face the prospect of it being done through a compulsory savings plan which some have advocated. Mr. Roosevelt

if he can, in order to hold them.

Such competitve wage bidding is

truly inflationary.

The shifting of workers which re-

sults from this practice is now one

plainly indicates it is a possibility if the voluntary|0f the extremely disturbing factors

method does not work. He says he prefers to keep the voluntary plan in effect as long as possible. :

in war production. It also has a prime inflationary effect on the

This is the opportunity for a democratic countiy|coUntry’s wage structure.

to exert its effort in a democratic way.

It is possible—it is greatly to be

Many times while I was abroad recently, conver-|hoped—that organized labor in the sations turned on the vast amount of hardship and|war industries will agree not to ask effort that would be necessary to win the war. Yet|for widespread wage increases and

someone always finished off by remarking that no

to accept war labor board decisions.

matter how much it cost to win the war, that would |But even this voluntary agreement

be nothing compared with the cost of losing it. The more we save now, the more cash we put into the expense of the war while it is going on, the lighter the cost of victory will be. For the real economic and social cost of wars, even victorious ones, is apt to hit after the fighting stops. ' As Mr. Roosevelt said, safeguarding our economy at home is the very least that our soldiers, sailors and marines have a right to expect of us.

would not solve the problem.

Certainly no one would criticize

workers for accepting a wage increase given by their employer without request. for them. Nor would there be any question for the war labor board to decide if wage increases, however great, came by

become resort country and yearround vacationland. Tens of thousands of Americans including bumper crops of | New England and Sun Valley skiers— will pass through here on their way over the great air trade and travel routes of the future. They will marvel, as we marvel, at the clear dry air, the endless lakes and rivers, the thick spruce forests and the stately birches. Skiers and mountain climbers will swoon with delight at sight of towering snow-capped peaks

pro on the Appalachian ranges. Most of all, being air travelers. they will admire the climate, which in certain well defined and closely restricted areas whose locations we would be suckers to reveal to the enemy, approaches that of Texas in respect to 100 per cent flyable weather, This is true even in this background age before most of our knottiest aeronautical weather problems have been solved. 2 = ”.

On Route to Moscow THESE TRICKS of climate, due

peacetime would make a thick book but rate now as military secrets, are what put the Labrador bases out in front as North America’s greatest oceanic hoppingoff places. And ‘this is the real reason for Labrador’s sudden rise to prominence in the North airbase system. Furthermore, Labrador is on the great circle air route to Europe for everything west of Pittsburgh, Pa. This means that for the eastern U. S. seaboard, the base is practically on course, airline, for the trans-Polar route to Moscow and Central Asia—one of the great air trade and travel Toutes of the future. For the immediate Tuture, this unique combination of climate and geographical position make Labrador an ideal ferry base on the America-Britain run for bombers and even short-range fighters, flying via Greenland and Iceland. Given only a slightly improved development in the ranges of heavy bombers and carrying gliders and it puts North America within direct offensive striking distance of Hitler's Nor wegian coast. But airplanes can travel both ways, and Labrador, prior to the installations of the last

thai. are : the northernmost po-

to meteorological factors, which in .

Actually, Flying Officer T. C. McCall—my constant companion and guide on this first trip any newspaperman has been permitted to make into these parts—agrees with me that this is one of the pleasantest and most beautiful places in North America. " We both agree with Wing Comm. W. C. “Packy” McFarlane, commanding officer of the R. C. A. F. station, that it is destined to

months, was probably America’s most vulnerable sector, from an invasion standpoint. Labrador might have fallen, a year ago, to 1000 air troops. Prepared airports would not have been necessary.

river valleys would ideal invasion fields lier this season. By day, temperatures go to 50 degrees or so, in the Labrador spring. By night, they fall again, to 10, 15, 20 below. This nightly freezing. ..process . melted snow surfaces to ice flelds

little ear-

of -glacier:like ‘hardness, -upen. transports and’

which the largest bombers could make beautiful #ki landings. They could even make ‘ wheel landings, as the Nazis did in Norway, under similar conditions. Once in, it would be difficult to dislodge such a force from its invasion foothold on the North American continent. Should such a blow be struck in conjunction with North Atlantic naval opera-

tions in which Hitler employed -

his own and the Vichy fleet, plus perhaps a simultaneous air as--sault on Iceland and Greenland, it might mean our loss of the War. ’ . 2 =

Too Late for Hitler

THREAT can be discount-

ed, now. We are prepared, in

_gonverts. the.

HOLD EVERYTHING

“You brute—you never take me SiyWhere!”

be drastically revised in this age of air war, Labrador is a perfcet case in point. It got its reputation as a land of frozen wastes in an era of sea transport. From the mariner’'s viewpoint, the reputation was justified. The fafous Labrador current, sweeping southward from the arctic icecap, keeps the Labrador coast perennially barren and ice locked. Along the coast, practically the year around, Labrador is indeed a forbidding waste of bald-rock and icy desolation, But get on an airplane, and fly into the interior, as we have done on this trip. Observe the heavily wooded river valleys, and the friendly, inviting surfaces of -the frozen lakes and.rivers.. Here, a6 | ini yesterduy’s dispatch, it was possible for a’ construction gang of hundreds of men to live in tents through most of the winter. The rivers and! Jokes teem with fish, Vast herds of caribou roam the hills, Seal may be had by the hundred. It is not by any means unreasonable to suppose that an invasion party, properly equipped and expertly. led, could actually live off the country, and live well, to say nothing of the modern possibilities of supplying it by air. a! # 8» Nazis Surveyed Area HITLER'S BRAINTRUSTERS, to be sure, probably know all this as well as we do. The Nazis are known to have surveyed Greenland extensively in the years before 1939. What isn't known is that they also surveyed Labrador. : A certain “Father Schultz,” who posed as a Catholic priest, catering to thé spiritual needs of the Eskimos, was a familiar figure in Labrador for several years before the war. He got about by dog team, and was seen in’ all nooks and corners, from Chimo to Battle Harbor, Shortly after war broke out, Father Schultz disappeared. How he. got out isn’t known, though there were theories about Nazi U-boats or airplanes playing a swift call. What was found out after he left was that he had kept elaborate rds of the weather, and had gathered with the aid of unsuspicious Eskimos and Indians, a most comprehensive library of information concerning = climate and topography. TOMORROW: Labrador, a land of oonirasts and parader.

Meanwhile, the second sugarless day in city groceries was viewed without much concern, Housewives went about their cooking using stocks of sugar which they had set aside especially for this week when there are no retail sales of the come modity. Following the first day of registering commercial users, William F. Rightor, deputy. state rationing administrator, pointed to one OPA ruling which he thought needed emphasis. It was: Operators of boarding houses will be classed as commercial users of sugar, as are restaurants, and must register as such today for. sugar purchasing certificates, Boarders Must Register . In addition, after the boarders. . obtain their consumers rationing books, the operator of the boarding will take up the books of boarders who eat 12 or more meals a week at the house. The operators will hold these books for: the duration or until the boarder leaves or eats fewer than 12 meals a week at the house. A meeting to give rationing ine structions to elementary school’ principals will be held at 3:30 p. m,’ tomorrow in the War memorial. Otto J. Feucht, member ‘of the local rationing board, will explain how to register the individuals and. how to issue the rationing books, The principals will then Instruct. the teachers who will act as regise trars.

STATE USO DRIVE : OPEN ON MAY 11:

Organization of the state-wide campaign to raise $832,000 for United Service Organizations in Ine. diana was to be completed today. with an eight-county conference at Evansville. Frank K. Zoll, Anderson, state campaign director, announced that the drive will open officially on May 11 and end not lafer than: July 4, except in a few counties where campaigns have been delayed until next fall. | . Indianapolis’ chmpalin to raise its quota will be held some time in October or November in connection with other community needs. : The state has been divided into 12 campaign districts with counties grouped together under one came paign organization.

BEVI:RIDGE HONORED | AT DEPAUW CHAPEL

Times | Special , GREENCASTLE, Ind, April 29.— De Pauw university honored the late Senator Albert J. Beveridge,’ graduate of DePauw. and exponent of American imperialism, at Foune

agreement between employers and employees.

Morale Damaged

Recently it was my uhpleasant duty to disclose outrageous salary increases to corporation executives, and enormous bonuses paid to them. More important than their inflationary effect, such increases and bonuses create unrest among workers, and understandably so, and dampen the general public's ardor

af al bine ders’ and Benefactors’ day yestere

day in a lengthened chapel service, * Speakers were Dr. Herold T. Ross, head of the department of speech, and Richard Morrish, a senior from Greensburg. President Clyde’ B, Wildman of DePauw presided.

WAR Quiz.

Needham Postmaster to Retire Tomorrow On 70th Birthday After 38 Years' Service

are located was built by Mr. Long in 1916. He prides himself ‘with the fact that no matter how late he kept his store open, the postoffice always was available for farmers in the surrounding com-

By Eleanor Roosevelt

ly Day

NEW YORK CITY, Tueiay~This moming T © went over to the naval hospital and returned in time ee eo. who came to see me about

ANDREW E, LONG will have two good reasons for a special celebration: tomorrow. First, Mr. Long will observe his 70th birthday. Moreover, the day will mark his retirement after 38

The School for Applied Design has trained many women for commercial art. The Purple Box has trained cripples so that they have been able to support themselves.

tise U. 8.0. campaign. She also spoke to me of sev“other charities, the School for Applied Design, the Purple Box (where crippled - workers have for many years been g the daintiest kind of sewing) and the New York Assaciation for the Blind. These charities are either giving up in despair, or curtailing their programs, because it is so difficult to raise money for anything but war work. : Our national symphony orchestra in Washington has had ¢ . this same -experience. The big "gifts have come in, but it is by small gifts, and this year these ] into defense bonds or war

consider what we realy community

ing the

It is possible that women now being trained in the

School for Applied Design might go into munition,

factories for the duration of the war. Perhaps it is one of the organizations which can be shut down, but it will be hard to build up again once disbanded. Certainly there is no place in industry for the cripples in the workrooms of the Purple Box. There is comparatively little opportunity for those who are trained by the New York Association for the Blind to get work of any kind until trained.

My own feeling is that we need cultural things |

like music and painting during these times even more than in peace. Those who give small contributions should keep on giving them. Where charities are concerned, we should weigh very carefully the public responsibility as against private effort. Defense bonds and stamps should be bought, if possible, out of money saved from our actual needs, sincé we can do without many things without affectcultural | ‘of our Sp Comunity vt

for buying war bonds. The continuance of such selfish gains from the war is disastrous to civilian and military morale, .

And yet, neither the war labor

board nor any other agency has adequate jurisdiction and authority to deal with this outrage.

years as postmaster at Needham, Ind. ; Actually, Mr. Long has been in

* Cornelius, Ind, y Needham.

store ‘in the quiet little town

taxes,| northeast of Franklin,

time to my business from now

Xi bo &ble sa goi. in. & Lie extra time for my hobby,

"Mr, Long isn’t exactly eager to | retire, but he has, besides his @ postmaster job, a thriving general

Tm slip. to dovoie ailimy |

the postal business 46 years. He

on,” Mr. Long said, “and maybe

munity who were not able to use it until late at night. There has been only one burglary in the post office since Mr. Long became postmaster. That was last March when thieves took $60 from the safe. © “I installed a burglar alarm after that and it went off once or twice since but nobody broke in,” he said. One of his most cherished mementos is ‘a: personal letter of

congratulations from General Francis (enh grr

. upon the occasion ‘of his’ retire-

1 Toc rerd swing on an asl man’s uniform right indicate he was a champion with the saber. Do you know whether that's so? : 2. Navy men have a slang saying “beating the they mean? |

ing off ‘place “from

belonged to what nl Answers