Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 August 1942 — Page 11

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FRIDAY, AUG. 28, 1942

I oosier Vagabond

DUBLIN, Avg. 26—On my first day in Dublin

I.was invited to lunch with a highly schooled and very Ea, Irishman. : it “You have come to a mad country,” he said. “The Trish. are a mad race.” “Well, that’s what makes them so charming, isn’t it?” I said. “It makes us charming to you people in foreign countries who hear about us,” he said, “but we're hell to live with. We're stubborn, contentious and backward. We're living 200 years behind the times. . And the trouble is, a lot of us are proud of it.” i He was not referring to Ireland’s position in the war. He was referring to everyday Irish existence. They say Ireland is harder for an outsider to understand than is India. “You would have to live here at least 20 years to have the slightest conception of us,” my friend said.

Intolerant Fringes Make. Trouble

IN DELVING INTO the intensity of the Irishman’s feeling against Britain, I gathered that the shades of opinion can be. classified about like this: "1, A small minority of rabid English-baiters, who boil at the word “British” and are always stirring up trouble. The people who make up the currently suppressed I. R. A. 2. ‘Another small minority of British-lovers, who ape British manners and thought and would like to

STREET RAILWAY officials are preparing a new map of their transportation system especially for the Apenefit of the thousands of brand new patrons. Many of these new passengers actually never had been on

s Sirsetoar or bus, we're told, before the auto tire shortage put them on their feet. One of our most reliable agents reports that a girl.got on a Central ave. .bus the. other day and rather embarrassedly asked if she might share a seat with a woman. Then she hesitantly explained she’d never been on a bus but once in her life—always rode in an auto. “I remember riding a bus once when I was little,” she reminisced, “but all I remember about it was that they had straps hanging from the ceiling.” Snorts were heard from some of the more seasoned bus riders. They thought she was just showing off, but the chances are she was telling the truth.

No Sunday Fishing, We Bet

.. MEMBERS OF THE Roberts Park Methodist gongregation will have a fish fry tonight at the church, serving fish caught by none other than the pastor, the Rev. Sumner L. Martin while on his vacation in Canada. He shipped the fish back in i¢e and the parishioners considerately kept them in the cold storage locker at Methodist hospital until the Rev. Mr. Martin, himself, got back. So he could enjoy m 100. . . . Speaking of fish, we told you Wednes‘day about the Indianapolis colony at Miller's park on Elk lake, up in Michigan, and how a couple of women a. the men by catching five pound bass. - Well, then we've learned that one of the women, Hazel owe; -g: teacher at. Tech, -ds just: about tops among at the fishermen up there. She became interested

esiington

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28.—Let this news from Russia put.us on notice. ‘Russia prepared for years. Russia is vie. Russia is tough. Russia is fighting to save her own precious soil. - And Russia is taking a beating. She may soon be rendered helpless fo counter- ~ attack and may have to rest — stubborn, determined to resist, but exhausted, lacking the weapons with which to drive out her invader. If Russia goes out as a major fighting force, then the load goes entirely on us and the British. India and the Middle East are in grave danger. If this sounds alarmist, that is what it is meant to be. We are being put on notice. ’ This war is just starting for us. Russia goes out and we come in. Fortunately, Presi- " dent Roosevelt has decided to address the country. It is to be hoped that he will take full advantage of this opportunity to lay it on the line. During the last few days I have been thinking of France as it was in the early summer of 1940. They thought they had the finest army in the world. They didn’t know what was about to hit them. I think of that France—self-deluded in dreams of might that didn’t exist.

Traveling the Same Old Rut

7 ARE WE DREAMING, too, in terms of might that is still far from the front lines? Hitler only deals with what he comes up against. What we are going to do in 1044 doesn’t bother Bim in the summer of 1942, ‘Washington has done a great deal. Men here are for the most part earnest and capable. They are more 3 ‘awake than the men of France were just before the

fall. Bub: that isn’t edough. They are not driving hard

enough. They have lead in their feet and lead in their

heads. ; They put in long hours and work hard. Do ney think hard? Are they thinking and reaching, or are they slogging along doggedly in. routine? Are

uy Day

~NEW YORK CITY, Thursday—One of the things a great many “of us are worried abouts today is the

Poss of inflation. We are told that if we deny

a8 many things as possible, we may be able vert the production power which would ordinarily flow into the making of consumer goods, into the production of things which are vitally nested in

to us‘now to save in every possible way to prevent/m JAfladon and 10 Hut v5 over the he wal

By Ernie Pyle

see Ireland part of the Crown once more. These people are of the type that Americans know as “stage .Englishmen.” And they do not like Americans, 3. The bulk of the people, who still like to talk against the British but who don’t make a profession of it. Actually, the Irish masses can get along all right together. It’s those two intolerant fringes (in both countries) that cause the trouble.

Something to Both Sides—

HERE, AS IN ENGLAND, they can spot an American immediately by his talk. They are courteous and pleasant, but they don't make a fuss about it. They seem to figure it’s ‘fine if you want to visit Ireland, and they'll treat you decently, but they don't drool over you. The average Irishman’s approach to an American visitor is one of friendliness coupled with terrific pride in his own country. It is typified by the remark of a ccuntryman I overheard in a west-coast pub. The countryman was about as near the “dream Irishman as angthing I've seen. He sat sipping his mug of stou and listening to some Americans talking at the. bar. They were talking about how Ireland had been kept alive for generations by all the money sent back from her sons in America. - “Why,” one of them remarked, “there wouldn’t be any Ireland by now if it weren't’ for America.” At that the countryman chuckled and chimed in good-naturedly, “Yes, and there wouldn't be any America if it hadn't been for the Irish.”

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

in fishing only a few years ago, but now she’s the|

talk of the lake. All the veteran male fishermen bid for a chance to accompany her out on the lake because she knows just where and how to fish. The way she catches ’em has such mere males as Roy Robbins, L. Gray Burdin, Chet Camp and Jim Peeling, all Butler profs, pretty badly mystified.

Around the Town

BILL HAYES, engineer for the Power & Light Co, is trying out his brand new navy uniforms, getting the feel ‘of them before reporting as a lieutenant (jg) next week at Cornell. There he’ll join another hometowner, Scott Waldon, the former statehouse reporter. . . . Dr. Robert Peden, dental consultant for the State Health Board, now in the army, writes his friends at the Health Board that he has arrived safely in Great Britain and advises them to “keep smiling.” It's good advice, Doc. . . . In listing the imposing array of high civilian defense officials living in air raid district 40, presided over by Warden Irving W. Lemaux, we neglected the other day to mention Major Herbert Fletcher, the chief air raid warden.

Happy Birthday, Henry

GOVERNOR SCHRICKER will be a year older Sunday thaa he is today. It'll be his 59th birthday. He had planned a family outing at the Dunes State park over the week-end, but along came an invitation am to participate in the big Victory day war bond celebration Sunday, so uncle Henry gave up his outing plans. . . . Gene Pulliam’s war bond crew has taken over the space at the foot of the Claypool hotel flagpole in the lobby as a bond and stamp sales space. They even use it for a war bond program broadcasting studio. Harry Bason broadcasts from the lobby at 11:15 each morning. . . . Russ Dean will spend the next couple of weeks up in northern Michigan resting. up §o-he ean do a ‘bang-up job as Democratic county chairman in the coming campaign.

By Raymond Clapper

they allowing their judgments to be warped by prejudices, by jealousy, by a man’s natural preference for traveling in‘ old grooves and his natural resentment of a new idea that would jerk him out of familiar ways of doing things? Are they hacks instead of imaginative, creative, driving leaders? What I mean is, why did old man Kaiser oy the runaround here? Why did he leave town feeling that the only important friend he had behind his cargoplane ideas was Donald Nelson? Why, when old man Kaiser asked the war department for information about some new experimental work on airplanes, was he pushed off with the rebuke that he was trying to pry into military secrets? Why is Nelson put under wraps in this affair because the sarvices are against old man Kaiser?

The Lead Will Have to Go :

WHY WAS'IT that they wouldn't let Kaiser build a certain type of surface ship, desperately needed, until he kicked up so much dust that the president personally asked the maritime commission to pitch in? Except for that he wouldn't be in production now with those ships. Why, with at least 90 per cent of the world’s nickel on our side, and with other unmatched resources in raw materials, have we handled them so carelessly

that we are running short while Germany, with mea-|.

ger resources, continues heavy war production? Why, up to this late date, has the army been allowed to issue priorities in the field, thus scattering scarce material so that WPB could exercise no effective ‘control?

Why does Nelson fire a young fellow whose only =

crime was to blurt out to the newspapers the fact that the WPB iron and steel section contained a number of -weak sisters, which was well-known but about which nothing was being done.: Does'a man have to yell publicly. and get fired down here to get somebody to clean up a sloppy condition? : + Everything can't be perfect. Nothing is ever good enough in-war. But we will have to shake the lead out of our feet down here if we expect to make the

grade against Hitler,

B Blais Bee

According to these figures, we have also done better in keeping down corporate profits. the profits of 68 leading industrial corporations were only 7.7 per cent less than in 1916, according to re-

ports published by Standard Statistics, Inc. The profits| to

of 290 leading industrial corporations in the first half

of 1942, were 34.6 per cent less than in the first half

of 1941, as reported by the National City bank. Some of this decrease may be due to the fact that corporations have made excessive allowances for taxes. The true picture of 1942 profits cannot be seen, a the passage of the new tax bill ‘year. Still, it looks hopeful. ir Se poo Innovation the nation, as well as our industrial leaders, can remember what it means

3

In 1917,}

ribd after the war, |

fleet of trans-ocean cargo planes.

oped into really big business,

the market against outsiders, public on prices.

combination when he suddenly decided to get the cement contract for Shasta dam in Cali-

fornia. He didn’t know anything about the cement business. He didn't even have a plant. But after a brisk setto, he won out. More recently,

as his shipbuilding and other war

contracts piled up, he decided he wanted to go into the steel and magnesium fields so he would have plenty of these " materials. Here he Mr. Stokes bucked up against the big combinations of steel and aluminum, which, incidentally, . he found well entrenched in WPB here in Washington. ;

He Finally Wins

He won out there, too, but it took a long time. He discovered the power of his antagonists. Henry Kaiser put in a bid to build Shasta dam. He lost out by a hair, as it is reckoned in the big-scale contracting business, being only $200,000 over on the $35,000,000 job.’ Contractors will tell you that losing by such a slender margin is ample excuse to go off and get drunk. But Henry Kaiser didn’t take to drink, or peut, or indulge in post-mortem “ifs.” They'll need mountains of cement on that dam, said he to himself. Why “not bid for the cement contract? “I didn’t know anything about making cement,” he confessed, “Of course I had been dn the sand and gravel business, but never in cement. So I sent my boys off east to learn how it was done, how to go about building a plant. For I had no plant.” Outbid Them All He got his estimators busy. He wanted to bid for the whole amount, 6,000,000 barrels. He soon discovered that this was unheard of. But finally he got the interior department to provide for alternate bids which: would include the whole amount. ‘His bid. was $1,500,000 below any’ other, quite a piece of change for the taxpayer. “But I couldn’t get a bonding company fo bond me,” he explained. “They wouldn't bond me unless I gave half the business to the other cement companies. I found out they were powerful. But there is provision - for personal bond on such contracts. So I went out and got five associates and we all put up our personal bonds. We took a chases, but they all believed I could o it.”

U. S. FLAG FLIES

‘Somewhere’ in Egypt the Yanks Learn Life In Desert.

SOMEWHERE IN THE SUEZ AREA, Egypt, Aug. 28 (U. P.).—The stars and stripes were run up over this desert outpost today. The American troops who stood at attention while the flag raced up the staff and fluttered in the desert breeze were members of the United States airforce ground personnel ‘who Teeontly. arrived in Egypt. +" The: commanding officer and the

men from a score of states, who will spend -a little time here before| moving up to-the front lines.

A Training Camp

This is a transit camp, designed acquaint new men. with desert Ble. Io Is British equipped and there still. ‘were a handful of R. A. F.

world.”

{long-time friend and adviser.

‘awakened suddenly at 4 o'clock by

stantly on the telephone to Wash-

IN SUEZ AREA|

{they pick us out?” was the com-

‘| resentative here of Henry J. Kaiser, jon the temporary injunction issued

chaplain spoke briefly ta. the troops,|

"| possible to purchase from ware-

a with $2.12% at the mill under ceil-

d that when the tans. ea ‘he fell injy 3 and

The Coast Trust-Buster Waged Successful Fight “For Cement, Then Metals

This is the fourth of six articles on California’s industrial paragon, Henry J. Kaiser, whose latest proposal is the construction of a great

By THOMAS L. L. STOKES Times Special Writer

' WASHINGTON, Aug. 28.

—Henry J. Kaiser has devel-

delving into new fields, doing.

bigger and bigger things, he ran up against interests that had worked out combinations to protect themselves, to hold ‘and, too often, to hold up the

Any newcomer like Henry Kaiser who didn’t follow the rules was taboo. He bumped headlong into the cement

He got the contract. Then he had to build a plant. This was done — in six months. When the plant was completed, with two Kilns sufficient to supply the requirements, at Shasta dam, it turned out that the dam contractor was not yet ready for cement. So they started to make cement anyhow and sell it on the market.’

Here the cement combine howled, ;

for the Kaiser company began to grab off its customers all around the place. When Shasta dam began to take cement, there still was a little surplus, and meanwhile it was decided to build a third kiln for the commercial business. Recently 8, fourth was added.

Seeks Big Business

Three hundred salesmen were hired, and Mr. Kaiser went out for business in a big way. When the war came on, or shortly -before, he decided to confine himself to defense business, dropped his sales organization, and now sells only to the government. “We are selling 5,000,000 barrels a year,” Mr. Kaiser said. “It’s the biggest cement business in the

There is another interesting characteristic of Henry Kaiser. When he gets an idea, he won’t let it alone —and it won't let him alone. And he. won't let anybody alone who has anything to do with it. He eats with it. He sleeps with it. - Like the late Thomas A. Edison, he doesn’t require much sleep. Once he got the idea for cargo planes and proved to himself that air freighters could be built in existing shipyards (such as those where he is breaking records building ships), he began to worry everybody who could help him.

Summons Old Friend

There 4s. for Instance, Vance Breese, the famous test pilot. For several hours Mr. Kaiser talked the scheme out in Oakland with this Mr. Breese thought they were through, and. went down to Los Angeles to see his family and look in his own business. At 6 o'clock that night Mr. Kaiser turned up at the Breese home. He wanted to talk some more, and did —until’ 1 a. m. Mr. Breese was

someone whistling outside his window. - It was Mr. Kaiser. Between that time and 8 o'clock, when the two had to leave for an appointment, Mr. Kaiser was con-

ington, talking'to Donald Nelson, Gen. Arnold, and other officials. It’s an old story now how Henry Kaiser electrified the country with his proposal, how he came to Washington, first to get a cordial recep-

Henry J. Kaiser .. . “There are wo things in this business—material flow and human. relations.®

But he won't let the idea alone.

It’s an old story, too, how he has

been given the runaround before in| Washington and how he always comes back and keeps hammering away. Lieut. Gen. Brehon B. Somervell, chief of the army’s services of supply, perhaps has not forgotten the occasion, nor have the other top officials who were present at a luncheon at the army and navy club—Lieut. Gen. Henry H. Arnold, chiet of the army air forces; Lieut. Gen. Leslie J. McNair, chief of the army ground forces; Ferdinand Eberstadt, chairman of the army and navy munitions" board, and others. They were discussing Mr. Kaiser's cargo-plane proposal. All sorts of objections were raised, particularly as to materials. During the discussion, Mr. Kaiser told how he had built a plant to make magnesium, how it was already producing, and mentioned that Henry Ford still did not have his magnesium production under way. Magnesium was one of the critical materials of which there was a shortage. : “That makes “you * better than Henry Ford,” interjected Gen. Somervell. “That’s plain sarcasm,” Mr. Kaiser shot back. “I don’t think that is worthy of a man in your high position.” Then, according to reports of what happened, the two barked at

‘each other with some display of

heat, until Gen. Arnold intervened to restore good humor. He Likes a Fight After luncheon, Mr. Kaiser

‘grabbed Gen. Somervell about the

waist in a bear-hug and good-na-turedly lifted him clear off the floor, shaking him in his big arms. “1 like a tough fight—and you are going to get one,” he told the general, with a smile. Seldom has there been a figure who breaks into official Washington with the bang, bang, bang, of the big man from the coast. One morning Rear Admiral Ben Moreel, chief

tion, later to be eased off with an innocuous letter.

of the navy’s bureau of yards and

docks, arrived at his office 20 min-

‘Why Pick Us Out?" Asks

Times Special WASHINGTON, Aug. 28. — “Everybody else is doing it—why did

ment today-of Chad Calhoun, rep-

in ' Cleveland against the Kaiser Co., Inc. for allegedly buying steel ‘in the “black market.” : Mr. . Calhoun explained that the Kaiser organization has been buying steel in less-than-carload lots from warehouses, when it was impossible to buy at mills because of priority ratings, in order to goj ahead with its various war orders— including shipbuilding, in which the Kaiser . interests how have all records. “If you're going to -get anything done, you've got to ‘have the steel,” he added. Mr. Calhoun explained that it is

houses in less-than-carload lots—

which he conceded is a subterfuge] —when ‘it i§ impossible to get steel| |

Kaiser Co. After Injunction

The effect of the injunction, he said, will be to stop the emergency fill-in buying of this sort by which the Kaiser war program has been kept going, and slow up its production insofar as steel is involved.

MATHEWS TO SPEAK TO SERVICE LEAGUE

The National Women's Service league will hear a talk by Comm. 4H. G. Mathews, head of the Innaval recruiting area, at '8 p. m. Tuesday in the Y.W.C. A. The league is made up of mothers and wives of men in the service. There will be a musical program: and at a business meeting the league members will discuss the canteen which they operate on the

fourth floor of the federal building.

HOLD. EVERYTHING

from mills. The price is higher, |

‘however — $325 a hundredweight|

‘under OPA ceiling prices, compared

| utes to. 8 to find Mr. Kaiser camped on his doorstep. Mr. Kaiser then was interested in the contract to build the naval | air training station at Corpus Christi, Tex. He did get it—10 days {ater. He completed the job in a year. Best judgment in the navy had heen that it would take from three to four. The youngsters who work for Henry Kaiser have ‘a hard time keeping up with him. Four hours’ sleep usually is enough for him. He is seldom sick. When he does get sick he: calls in three doctors. Occasionally he takes a day off.

‘Stresses Material Flow

Like big men who do big things, he has a formula which is simple— in the. telling. “A big job is nothing but material flow,” he said. =~ “There are two things .in this| business—material flow and human relations.” 3 Human relations includes labor. Henry Kaiser was once a strong anti-union man—in his early days. He is now a strong union man. All} ot+his plants, all of his jobs, arejthe completely unionized “He has had only negligible labor troubles. . High praise for ‘the Kaiser labor policy came ‘from John .P. Frey, head of the-A. F. of L. metal trades department. . As he explains it, Mr. Kaiser first saw the advantage of unions when he participated in the Boulder dam contract In looking about for labor for such a mammoth job he discovered, Mr. Frey said, that the unions could handle this problem for him, could gather together sufficient

the same time take responsibility to see that he had the trained labor required for every sort of job. So Mr. - Kaiser signed up with the uhions and has been a /Sirong union man ever since.

Seeks Capital Advice

. He also has a philosophy that industry ‘must assume responsibility} in an emergency; that it should come to Washington with plans for what can be done, instead of asking|

skilled labor for his needs, dnd ati:

Washington what can, be dove; that it should’ come to’ Washington as a service ‘to the country. He thinks there’s been t00' much holding back by industry, too, little initiative and aggressiveness. : A sort of pioneer spirit, a spirit of dare-and-do, runs through all the multitude of ‘companies in which Henry J. Kaiser is the dominant influence. . It is ap organization of young men, mostly, all infused with the magnetic impulse which flows from Henry Kaiser. Typical are his two sons—Edgar, who operates the three shipyards around Portland, and Henry Jr., who is in charge of the shipyard at Richmond, Cal. The key men work hard and are quite accustomed to a call to perform miracles. = They ,are paid moderate salaries, but there is a bonus system. They never know what they may be called upon to do. Take, for example, Chad: Calhoun, now one of Mr. Kaiser’ S representatives here. Several years ago he was walking down a street in Portlena one night. when he ne ‘Calhoun: art land: fos ae trains, on his way. to California. “Mr. Kaiser told’ me he'd been looking for me,” .Mr. Calhoun relates.: “Said I needed .a vacation, and he wanted me to go up to Lake Tahoe, where he'd bought ‘some acreage, and superintend the. transformation of that land into a sum=mer place. So I went to Lake Tahoe—for a vacation.” Vacation? x. . He assembled more than 100 workmen" with equ pment, ‘drained the

the boathouse. Mr. Kaiser is a speedboat enthusiast. I's his only

“It. wasn't exactly a vacation” says Mr. Calhoun. “But it was a change.” =i tr TOMORROW: Kaiser says ‘If Can Be Done.’ :

| form of recreation.

WPB TAKES ALL

Army and Navy Stripped of |, Right ‘to Assign : ‘Materials. WASHINGTON, Aug. 28- (U. P).

Nelson tonight, served notice on army and ‘navy procurement offi cials that field supervision over priorities on critical materials will be

will guarantee the “most efficient

PRIORITY POWER

—War Production Boss Donald M.}

branches of our: a rn aval Lovers semis i% splints for, emer-

taken out of ‘their hands beginning) a Sept. 7 and exercised by the WPB; ig He said the new procedure willl

lead toward stricter handling of : the flow of vital war materials and|

possible use of every ounce of scarce] A material and every erftieal Sub-as- i}