Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 30 June 1942 — Page 11

TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 1942

‘Washington

WASHINGTON, June 30—Industry shows almost no limits in ingenuity or in creation of produc-

tion capacity. It can build the plants and in fact industry has built the plants, and the worry now is getting enough raw material to feed their ravenous gullets. That's a job in which the government carries the main burden, since it means over-all planning and control. We fell flat on our face in the rubber shortage. There has been a good deal of buck passing among government officials and to private industry over this. The fact is that Germany has fought her war with rubber synthetics. If any private interests were bottling up patents over here as’ has been charged, the government didn’t seem to be making any particular efforts to break them loose. Now we are paying the price. The scrap rubber collection isn’t going to save the situation and the chances are that as soon as the government gets up enough nerve to go ahead, use of automobiles throughout the country will be rationed to save rubber. It doesn’t make sense to go on burning the candle at both ends.

Serap Shortage Is Serious

A SIMILAR SITUATION is developing with regard to steel. It won't hit the average citizen so directly but it already is being felt in war production and may prove an increasing shackle to production as time goes on. The war production program expands steadily but steel production, which is the basis of war output, is hitting the ceiling. We could produce 90,000,000 tons of steel this year. But we may fall 5,000,000 tons short for lack of scrap. How much is 5,600,000 tons

~ By Raymond Clapper

cargo shipbuilding program for this year and most of next. The main trouble now is a shortage of scrap. We could use some of that scrap we sent to Japan during the years when she was preparing war on us— a total of 7,400,000 .metric tons in the five years through 1940. Under present processes you can't make steel without using scrap. It is fed into the furnace along with pig iron to make steel. We are using record-breaking quantities now. Nearly 5,000,000 tons of scrap was used in May.

We Are Facing a Slowdown

IN THE FIRST five months of this year we used 23,000,000 tons of scrap to make steel. We are running short. Some furnaces have had to shut down : vr lack of scrap. The American Iron and Steel Institute is about to start a nation-wide salvage campaign for old metal. In America, with the largest deposits of iron ore in the world and the largest steel manufacturing capacity of any nation—probably close to that of the rest of the world combined—we are facing a slowdown because we are running out of junk. The Maritime Commission says it could build 25 per cent more ships if it could get the steel Although monthly deliveries of steel have been steadily growing, the deficit of steel to meet schedules is now 169,000 tons. Cuts in allocations of steel for railroad freight cars now leave the railroads about 20,000 cars behind schedule. Yes, industry is racing ahead but it has developed an appetite beyond all precedent. The job is to insure that it will not have to go short of food. Obviously the scrap problem will grow worse as production demands press during the next year and a half. We can’t afford to pooh pooh any production idea

of steel? It is more than enough to supply the whole now until we are sure it is screwy,

Ernie Pyle has gone to Ireland. His stories from our army camps there should start in a few days.

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

JOHN K. JENNINGS, the state WPA administrato. -ame back from Washington last week and talking to . statehouse friend confided that he'd heard about a -. “1 thing” at Arlington. The horse's name was “Antholog; ° The tip came from such a good source, John mused, he might wager just a trifle. Within 24 hours, the word was all over the statehouse. A “good * thing” became “sure fire.” Each department was making up its own pool. Even cautious newspapermen who haven't flirted with a pangtail for years started contributing. The labor department alone made up a collection of $69. With so many mouths hashing over this “cinch to win,” the name of the horse naturally became just a mite garbled and some of the town's bookies scratche® their heads in perplexity at the ardent desires of people wanting to bet on “Anthropology” and “Ornithology. The harse in question was in an eight-horse canter. eighth. jere’s a moral here some place.

You Takes Your Choice

THE RENT CONTROL administrator is facing his first real job. A very neat little problem has developed on the east side (Oxford's the street). The landlord of three properties (there are at least that number under his control) is charging his tenants from $4 to $6.50 more a month than he was on July 1. 1941. the date set by Leon Henderson and reaffirmed yesterday. The tenants offered to pay their old rent. The landlord refused to accept, said he’d evict em.

He

Spy Haven

WASHINGTON, June 30.—"The United States is a spy haven,” remarked an allied ambassador on learning of the capture of Nazi saboteurs who had been landed from axis submarines. “Unlike most Buropean and other countries,” the diplomat explained, “the United States has never been spy-con-scious. Your sense of security has been complete. The tendency has been to laugh at spy stories as ‘movie stuff’

“Another helpful thing for spies

is the nature of the American population. America prides herself on being a melting pot. Her people are a mixture of all nationalities and races. Some of her most loyal citizens speak with foreign accents. Which is all praiseworthy enough, but it makes it mighty easy for axis agents to move about without attracting attention. “In addition to these advantages, the spy feels reasonably secure in the United States. I mean secure from death. In Europe they stand him up against a wall and let him have it. Over here, he figures his charfces are definitely against being shot. If caught, the odds greatly favor a prison term, with a pardon after hostilities are over and passions have cooled.”

What Is Worth a Spy’'s While?

ATTORNEY GENERAL BIDDLE confirmed this when he suggested that the matter of a death penalty for the captured spies involved manv legal complexities. Non-American observers, however, are of the opinion that the United States must get tough if it wishes to discourzge enemy spies. Intelligence officers here admit that the job of counter-espionage is chock-a-block with difficulties— more so today than ever befcre. The emphasis has changed on what is worth a:spy’s while and what is

My Day

NEW YORK CITY, Monday.—I found some friends staying in the house when I reached Washington on Saturday, and two of them even joined me at a very early breakfast Sunday morning before I went off to Richmond, Va, by train. Because of some difficulty, we were three quarters of an hour late in leaving Washington, and by the time we reached Richmond, we were one hour and a half late. I knew that Gov. Darden and some of the officers of the Veterans of Foreign Wars were planning to meet me. Luckily, they had discovered how late the train was and all we had to do was to hurry through lunch. We reached the hall on time and I was sorry I was not able to stay for the whole meeting. The governor took me on the afternoon plane, so we had an opportunity fo talk for a little while. I was impressed by his sincerity and interest in a number of questions which are very important to his own state and to all southern

The tenants went to the chief counsel of the price board here and he told them they'd be violating federal law if they paid the landlord more than they did on July 1, 1941. So the net is the law won't let them pay more, the landlord won't take less and eviction is right around the corner. Hey, Leon!

No Wonder He's Sad

THERE WAS GENUINE anguish in the voice of Robert K. Doane when he called up yesterday. He is credit manager of the Wilson Furniture Co. “The phone number here,” said Mr. Doane plaintively,. “is Riley 6501. The number of that special information service at selective service headquarters is Lincoln’ 6501. We always get a lot of calls when some new draft situatirn comes up, but we manage to suffer along with it. But I just picked up a copy of your paper and I see in it that you have a note telling the boys to call Riley 6501. Brother, they certainly are. I wish there was some way you could help.” This is the way, Mr, D.

Around the Town

THE WORD IS THAT our usually mild-mannered governor really made the weikin ring about those delegate badges the Democrats are wearing today at the Coliseum. As we get it, Fred Bays went ahead and finished up the badges with a flourish, adding a small medallion at the bottom with the state in outline and the governor's picture superimposed on it. The governor just didn’t like it. . . . Robert Efroymson, well-known local attorney (Dailey, Efroymson & Dailey), has gone to the wars. He's been commissioned a first lieutenant in the air corps. Already gone, too. . . . Note to jukebox owners: Isn't it about time to throw the “Jersey Bounce” on the scrap rubber pile?

By Wm. Philip Simms

not worth while. For 25 cents you can buy a booklet complete with pictures and details about the working of the Panama Canal. : The major powers all know what the various types of warships look like, inside as well as out. Also pretty much all there is to know about each other’s planes, tanks, rifies, guns and whatnot. The main job of spies in the United States, therefore, now has little of the Mata Hari glamour about it. It is far more practical—and dangerous. On June 23, 1938—more than 13 months before the Nazis invaded Poland—I was reliably informed (and so reported) that Nazi espionage was at work on plans to wreck the nation’s economic and industrial machine by sabotage from within and without in the event of war.

It’s Not a New Technique

SINCE THE 19TH CENTURY Germany has depended on espionage as much as on its army. Fifth columns are not a new Nazi technique. The wars which led up to German unity were based on the work of the master spy Stieber and his organization no whit less than upon the plans of the general staff. In disguise, Stieber went everywhere. He personally led the way into Bohemia in 1866 to establish contact with his agents there, many of whom only he knew, Again, in 1870, he went ahead of the army into France, where he is said to have planted 30,000 spies long in advance of the war. It is said that a Nazi spy living nearby provided the tip-off which enabled a U-boat to slip into Scapa Flow and sink the British battleship Royal OGak lying at anchor there. Hitler, no doubt, regarded this as quite a stroke. Trday, however, scattered throughout the United States, there are thousands of war industries and other targets whose destruction would delight him infinitely more because of the greater harm it would do to the allied cause.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

He would like to see his state do on a state scale what the farm security administration does on a national scale, in making more productive the poorer farms of the state.

If every state would do that, we would cease having soil erosion. We would soon have more intelligent farming which would improve the land for the future and produce more for people to eat and to market at the present time. I think you will all be interested in a quotation from a letter which has just reached me. Lady Reading, who heads the women’s voluntary services in England, writes: “I have just come back from northern ‘Ireland, where I met a great number of your people and visited some of your camps. I was immensely struck by the extremely mice type of boy and the freshness of his outlook as well as the sincerity of his beliefs, “I do hope the American soldiers can be mediumly happy on this side of the Atlantic, and that we shall not fail in according to them the measure of welcome we wish so earnestly to give

Bi

BOARD DENIES PLEA TO KEEP CTY PARK JOB

Advisory Committee Raps Method of Removing

Rooney From Post.

By NOBLE REED

A request by the mayor's advisory committee on recreation that the recently abolished job of assistant recreational director be restored, was turned down by the park board last night. The advisory committee, headed by Mrs. Thomas D. Sheerin, “deplored the method used by the board” in eliminating the job, declaring that it would: 1. Endanger the merit system principle under which the recreational department has been operating for two years. 2. Undermine the confidence of all employees of the department and discourage desirable applicants from ever seeking employment with the department. 3. Lower the scope of service the

Public. 4. Encourage a trend back toward the political patronage system in selecting playground personnel. The protest followed the .park board's action in eliminating from its 1942 budget money to pay the salary of J. Patrick Rooney, assistant recreational director.

Denies Merit Involved

Jackiel W. Joseph, park board president, declared that abolition of the job “had nothing whatever to do with merit system principle or polities.” “The board determined, after several months of observations, that the job is unnecessary to the efficiency of the department and that work was being duplicated,” he said. Regarding the advisory committee’s statement that the action might prove a forerunner to restoration of political patronage, Albert Gisler, board member, declared: “You will never see the day when the city recreational department is back in politics . . . we will assure the committee and citizens of Indianapolis that the merit system principle will be maintained.” Other members of the board concurred in the pledge and promised that if the efficiency of the department were impaired by abolition of the job that they would admit it was a mistake and re-establish the office. “We simply have to cut down on expenses wherever we can in order to keep local taxes down during war-time and when we discovered there was not enough work for. two recreational directors, we merely eliminated one of them as good business,” Mr. Joseph said. He asserted that Mayor Sullivan had concurred with the board’s action in abolishing the job.

Committee Gets Backing

The advisory committee, whose protest against abolishing the job was supported by statements from seven civic organizations, reminded the board that the assistant recreational director job was found necessary two years ago because of expanding activities. “The need for expanded playground supervision is greater during war-time than ever before and we feel that abolition of the job now would lower the service when most needed,” Mrs. Sheerin said. The committee's statement to the board said in part: “The committee would welcome the opportunity to plan with the park board for any possible economies in administration of the department. Not Sound Economy

“However, we do not consider that abolition of the assistant recreational director post as sound economy at this time. “The committee deplores the method used by the board in terminating the services of a staff member. Any qualified employee is entitled to an explanation and a recommendation when his employment is terminated. To fail to accord this courtesy is to indulge mn poor personnel practice, disastrous to the morale of any business agency.” Members of the advisory committee besides Mrs. Sheerin are Mrs. Roberta West Nicholson, Mrs. George Clark, Mrs. Charles D. Vawter and Mrs. Carl J. Manthei. Other organizations which sent | letters protesting abolition of the! job included: The Indianapolis Council of Par-ent-Teachers, the National Recreation association, Municipal Gardens Community council, Christian Park school P.-T. A, Indianapolis Community Fund, School 75 P.-T. A. and the Irvington Union- of Clubs.

Naval Recruits To Parade on 4th

AT LEAST PART of the young men who enlist in the navy before July 4 will take part in the parade through Indianapolis Saturday, the city’s first real wartime Fourth of July parade in 24 years. The navy’s goal for Indiana by Saturday, is 2000 men, but the dial registering the month's progress in front of the post office is hovering around only the 1000mark. “The size of the group taking ‘the oath on the Fourth is going to be a good indicator of the success of our drive to double the monthly enlistments,” said Comm. R H. G. Mathews, officer in

An A.

department is expected to give the]

| {

AXIS SUB TOLL CLIMBS TO 335

Are Latest Victims; 65 Are Killed.

By UNITED PRESS Six more united nations vessels have been sunk by axis submarines, or submarine-laid mines, bringing the total of ships lost in the western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico to at least 335 since the middle of January. The newest sinkings included a large American sea-going tug, sunk by an underwater explosion of “undetermined origin” within sight of land on June 24; three mediumsized American merchant ships; a small Norwegian merchant ship, and a Jugoslav merchantman, all five torpedoed by submarines. The tug sinking was announced by the navy last night. 65 Lives Lost A total of 65 men were Killed in the sinkings. Nine seamen and two members of the gun crew were lost when a medium-sized American freighter was torpedoed and sunk in the Caribbean 10 days ago, the navy revealed today. Thirty-six were lost on the other freighters and 18 on the tug. The story of the sinking of one merchantman on the night of June 1 was told by two American seamen who pleaded that they might return immediately to the sea so that their 32 shipmates who were lost might be avenged. They and three of the six survivors arrived from a West Indian port. The sixth remained there. ‘Didn’t Have a Chance’ The seamen, Robert Gates, 2d engineer. of Los Angeles, and James Burns, seaman, of Rochester, N. Y., had tried to enlist with the armed forces but were told their merchant marine service was more important. : “It all happened so fast that it still seems like a bad dream,” Mr. Gates said. “I was in my cabin at the time the first torpedo exploded. Seconds later, I was standing on deck with water gushing over me from all sides. She was completely under in less than a minute. Most of the crew were below deck —they didn't have a chance. “I hadn't yet realized what had happened when I found myself clinging to the bottom of an overturned lifeboat with. four other members of the crew. All of us took a terrible beating from the floating wreckage tossed about by the waves.”

PUBLIC TO RECEIVE

NAVY INFORMATION

A public navy information meeting will be held at the Indiana World War Memorial building tomorrow at 8 p. m. for those interested in navy enlistment requirements. The program will include motion pictures of navy life and training, which will be followed by a question and answer period. While men between 17 and 51, who might be available for enlistment are particularly invited, the meeting will be open to anyone interested in learning more about what the navy needs. The meeting is being sponsored by the U. S. S. Indianapolis 42 of the navy club of the United States.

AUTO INJURIES FATAL TO PEDESTRIAN, 68

A 68-year-old pedestrian died at City hospital yesterday of injuries received Sunday when struck by an automobile at 25th st. and Indianapolis ave. He was Grant Green, 2515 Shriver ave. Elmer Williams, 2510 Annette

them ; id thet we are so| charge of Davy Tecruging for the

st., was charged with failing to give

Tug and 5 Merchantmen!

Caribbean sea and:

The Indianapolis Times

EF.

Embarks—

SECOND

SECTION

he gives his name to officer (right, at foot of steps, holding paper).

Army and

service.

By TOM WOLF Times Special Writer AN ARMY PORT OF EMBARKATION, June 30.—The gray-painted troopships, loaded and ready to sail, this story sees print, they will have slipped out into the moonless night,

made their secret rendezous with a their war-zone destinations.

But now they are facing the voyage. The most hazardous aspects

of troop movements are still ahead of them. Yet the most difficult part of troop movement has ended. It was over a few moments ago— when the last soldier and the last piece of equipment had passed through this port and onto the ships. Watching this operation, you understand the significance of the motto which hangs in the port administration building: “When it has been finally decided that .the thing is impossible to do, someone will come along and do it.”

There are literally thousands of problems in timing. The movement of men and supplies must meet convoy schedules prepared when the troopships which will transport them are, perhaps, on the other side of the world.

Planned Weeks Ahead

The operation which has just ended with the loading of the ships had been planned for many weeks. It. started with the operation division of the war department general service—one of the divisions of the staff. It told the transportation services of supply—that certain units and cargoes were needed in an overseas theater of operation. Together, consulting with the navy for convoy schedules weeks herice, they figured out what ships would be available, when and where.

Unit and port commanders concerned were thereupon “alerted.” The directive stated that the units “will go overseas and will report to the port at a time and place designated by the port commander.” From here on the port commander runs the show.

Timing of Supplies Vital

A unit going overseas brings comparatively little of its supplies with it to the port of embarkation. Much of its equipment comes from quartermaster depots located all over the United States. This must be routed to the port, yet not arrive too soon, lest it jam up the yards and warehouses already chock-full of cargoes for other convoys sailing before it. Nothing can enter the port except on orders from the port quartermaster. Shipments for this convoy started flowing toward the port almost the same gay that this troop movement was decided or. For many days shipments for this convoy have been pouring fromthe holding and reconsignment depots into the port’s giant warchouses, each of whose storage “bins” approaches the size of a city block. Stored here, awaiting loading, is everything from prefabricated barracks to rakes and hoes for tending gardens which will make troops self-sustaining for food; from heavy cannon to small arms; from cases of emergency rations to cases of semi-luxury foods — planned with such finesse that chocolate goes to cold climates, lemon drops go to hot.

Sea of Monsters on Wheels

One whole row of warehouses is set aside as the “overseas supply” section. Always on hand here are kept a day's rations for a million men and enough of every kind of clothing and equipment to fill at a moment’s notice any last-minute deficiencies of a sailing unit. In shoes alone, that means 112 different sizes in stock. And shoes are but one of the 2000 items stored here. While supplies for this convoy have been pouring into these warehouses, the railroad yards and. ster-

Navy ‘Pack Up’ As Eye-Witness Stands by

The article below is the first of two eye-witness reports on the secret sailing of an American combat force, bound for foreign

age areas outside them have been

are getting up steam. Long before

convoy, and, perhaps, even reached

chines with which modern wars are fought. There is an olive-drab sea of motorized and mechanized monsters here—tanks and guns, tractors and trench diggers, mobile machine shops and medical units, planes, bomb carriers, trucks, ambulances and a hundred other hulking contrivances on rubber tires. As the ships for this movement have come into the port, tractorsized cranes, pushing fork-like teeth into the mountains of supplies stored . in the warehouses, have moved the cargoes to the “head house.” This is a final storage area.

It’s Not Really Confusion

Once the supplies and equipment are checked into the head house, the port quartermaster’s job is through. The army transportation

service takes over the loading of the ships. This is no small problem in itself. Each ship must take a cross-section of equipment. If it did not, the boat loaded with all of one essential supply might be sunk in the crossing, thereby immobilizing all other units on arrival.

How a ship is to be loaded depends on the mission to be performed. A task force that may have to fight its way ashore will need its ammunition handy, though ordinary procedure would call for storing it deep in .the holds as ballast. The night before sailing, the port waterfront presents a picture of hectic, seeming confusion. Scurrying under brilliant floodlights, longshoremen weave the cargoes between the freight cars and trucks which have sidled up to the ships. All the movements seem disconnected, aimless. Huge land derricks supplement the ships’ hoisting machinery which swings 20-ton trucks or 20-pound cases into holds with equal ease.

Last-Minute Headaches

There are hundreds of last-min-ute headaches. One ship, harried oy submarines, may reach the port late. Within perhaps 36 hours she must be refueled, repaired and reloaded. If she cannot be loaded entirely within that time, decision must be made whether she is to wait for anoth:r convoy or to sail partly empty. An entire convoy cannot wait for part of one ship's cargo to be loaded.

As longshoremen scurry about loading her, tankers nuzzle her side, pumping in fuel. A maintenance crew arrives to make the minor repairs sustained on any long sea voyage. On the docks, painters, tying their brushes to long poles, daub war-gray over rust spots. The docks hum with noise and confusion

Yet tonight, somehow, miraculously, it was all over. Even as the ships were loading, cargoes for other convoys have been streaming into the yards and warehouses. And with

It's “goodby” to home soil as troops march aboard a troopship at “a port of embarkation” bound for service overseas. As each man boards,

RED INK HEAVY IN FISCAL BOOK ¢

U. S. Sets Spending Record And Prepares to Break It in 1942-43.

WASHINGTON, June 30 (U. P.). —The government today closed its books on a fiscal year marked by the heaviest spending and biggest’ red ink figures in history. But all these records will be broken again during the next 12 months. With war costs accounting for approximately $26,000,000,000 of the total federal spending of roughly $32,000,000,000 during fiscal 1942, the government went “in the red” about $19,872,000,000 and the public debt skyrocketed to $76,600,000,000.

Compared With 1941-42

But those figures are relatively small compared with what is in store for fiscal 1943, which starts tomorrow. The following table lists the 1943 estimates, compared with those of 1941 and 1942: 1941 1942 1943 (In Millions of Dollars) coo $7607 $12,707 32,579 19,872

Receipts Expenditures 12,275 Deficit 5,103 War spending 6,047 26,000 67,000 Public debt. 48,961 76,600 130,000 The estimates of 1943 receipts and

73,141 49,223

the deficit are based on the assump= _..

tion that congress will pass new tax legislation yielding an additional $7,000,000,000 as first recom mended by President Roosevelt, The bill in present form would net little more than $5,000,000,000. The closing fiscal year saw the nation change from a peacetime: | policy of “national defense” to one of all-out war.

Picture May Change

The first stage covered the first five months of the year. During the last seven months the defense organization was transformed into a fighting machine destined to be the most potent—and mest expen sive—in history. Gross war expenditures. for the entire world war I, including loans to foreign governments, totaled only $32,830,000,000. Any budgetary estimates for the coming year must take into account the changing fortunes of war which, overnight, can force their revision upward or downward. But in any event one single bill now pending in congress for the army exceeds $42,000,000,000. Any estimate of the coming year’s deficit can be only speculative, With $7,000,000,000 of new taxes, the budget bureau estimates the coming year’s deficit will total $49,223,000,0)0.

KIWANIANS TO HEAR LOER James E. Loer, city traffic ene gineer, will give an illustrated talic to members of the Kiwanis club at 12:15 p. m. tomorrow in the Colume bia club on “City Traffic Problems.” He will picture the traffic problems in Indianapolis and their solution,

HOLD EVERYTHING

the loading almost finished, thel|[%}

troops themselves have appeared— suddenly, as from nowhere—and

marched onto the ships that willl}

take them to war.

Tomorrow: Moving the troops.

LEE KEEPS HOSPITAL POST

Wallace O. Lee of Indianapolis was re-elected president of the Central State hospital's board of trustees at its meeting yesterday. Other officers renamed were Mrs. Esther Stalker of Westfield, vice president; Marion ‘Ayres vf Shelby-

ville, secretary, and William Sucow |

“Yeah, I used to work in a deli-

calessen—how did

$23918