Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 September 1942 — Page 11

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Hoosier Vagabond

© LONDON, Sept. 20.~There is moth sasha 8. about the ‘Red Cross in its management of the’ ‘string of “hotels for troops” which it is running nthe European theater of war. The Red Cross is to ‘make: soldiers happy, not to moralize them. a : The Red Cross works in close co-ordination with the army’s special services hranch, and they both know that a fighting man on leave isn’t going to sit around with folded hands and 4 lily-white look on his face. They accept ‘that. Consequently, ¢ if soldier comes in drunk at i the Red © ‘Cross is more likely to help take offchis shoes: shan it is to kick him out. - In fact, they don’t kick drunks out at all, unless they get

iE Bolligorent, ‘and. then they call the military police to

i tome and. get them, But that doesn’t happen often. » One club I know of is so thoroughly aware of the facts of life that it puts up the “Hotel Full” sign

£ when'it ¢ actually has 20 beds left. ‘Those 20 are saved - for soldiers who will show up late at night in a con-

dition of needing to lie down real quickly.

All these Peck’s bad boys may get a tongue-in-the-cheek “scolding” next morning, but nothing worse. oldiers are appreciative of this.

\ What a Soldier Wants

THE RED CROSS has found that the average soldier-on- leave wants three things when he hits town—girls, liquor, and sightseeing. They provide a nice girl if that's what he wants. They don’t provide the other kind; but it doesn’t take him long to get to Piccadilly Circus and find What he wants. " «The Red Cross doesn’t provide liquor, of course, or allow it in the hotel, but as I've said they take

‘IF ROSS TECKEMEYER, chief depnly state audi-

: tar, bites your head off/ when you ask him a civil : question, think nothing of it. Ross has just had a

great disappointment. He entrusted a friend in St. Louis with the task of getting him some world series tickets. And the friend failed. Now u it looks like Ross will miss: the series for the first time in years —unless somebody comes, to his rescue. , . , Ted Nicholas, of WIRE, is proud as the -dickens of his “pair of silver wings.” He has just taken his first solo hop out at Sky Harbor. . . . Mrs, Hugh Barnhart is improving from a recent attack of pneumonia, but still is abed at her home in Rpchester. . . . Lieut. Mark Ogden, who has just finished his naval training at Northwestern v. is in town on leave for a few days.’He reports for sea duty next week. . . . Atty. Gen. George N. Beamer, back from Washington, reports that his nephew, at-

'* tending the school for diplomats at Georgetown U.,

is paying his way by driving a taxicab and earning between $300 and $400 a month. Made $32 last Sunday, George reports. A Fortunate Error

A CERTAIN NAVY recruit is enjoying the balmy California climate these days as the result of a for-

-

whooping home.

"They do provide sightseeing, and the American | soldiers are avid sightseers. A Tens of thousands of | farm and small-town boys from America, after this|

war, are going to know London's historic spots’ better than the average Londener knows them. ctically all of them are amazed to find that Piccadilly Circus is not a form of entertainment, but |" only a name for a place where lots of streets come together, like Times Square, Over here “circus” means. circle. :

A Dance Every Suturdiy. Night

Lian SATURDAY night there is a club dance. bands furnish the music. The girls come from the Red Cross’ voluntesr list. Soldiers are permitted to bring their own girls only if they're known and approved by the managemerit. These dances are g sight to behold. You can’t tell whether you're at a dance or at a track meet. They jump and jerk and whirl and puff until you think they're going to have apoplexy. - Jitterbugs certainly have wonderful times. If some of the parior theorists on British-Ameri-can relations would just come down and watch these British girls and American boys dan _& While, they'd realize that relations are already okay. It would be wrong if you got the impression, from the first part of this column, that soldiers do nothing but drink when they're on leave. Those who drink to excess are the exceptions. There are thousands who never take a drink of anything stronger than' Coca-Cola. And how they go for Coca-Cola! One recent week-end the Washington club alone sold 6036 bottles. Yes, if you at home could visit the Red Cross clubs some Saturday night,” and see your sons and _ brothers enjoying themselves in a thoroughly Ameri"can way, you would have no fault to find, and you would be proud of ther.

‘Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

old key salvage drive. Stevie gathered, in his collet tion, some of his father’s old keys. He likes them so well he doesn’t want to give them up, particularly one for the door to the governou’s office. (Dud was the governor's secretary for a time). Steve explains he can’t part with his key “because they might want to get into the governor's office at night and I'd have to go down and let them in.”

Soles Instead of Shines

THE SHOE SHINE stand in the Roy Steele shoe repair shop in the Roosevelt building has been removed. The manager explained that it was to make more room for handling shoe repairs. “Everybody is having his shoes repaired these days,” he explained. . . Overheard in a clothing store: “Every time Gen. Hershey opens his mouth about drafting a couple million more men, business falls off in the men’s clothing department.” . If any of you men have had any ideas about" getting a job at Allison’s to avoid the draft, think twice. The plant publication—AllisoNews—reports that the honor roll of Allison men in the armed forces now is near the 2000 mark.

Around the Town.

THE WATER COMPANY’S monthly statements carry a cartoon urging patrons to “Join the Navy.” One patron returned the statement with $3, explaining that “here’s Some money to apply on my water bill, but I don’t want to join the navy.” ... A study

tunate error. He was scheduled to leave here for the of ‘pumpage reports dutibg the recent North ' Side

' Great Lakes naval training station, where it gets

pretty cold in the winter. He thought he heard his name called and joined a detachment of recruits heading for Union station, He wound up at San Diego,

dimout showed that the total water pumpage during the period fell off one-third, ‘Probably because no one washes in the dark. . Dick Lewis, the “Voice in the Balcony,” is the proud papa of an eight-pound

Mend everything was all right until the officers there haby boy born Monday at Coleman. Both mother and

started checking in the recruits and found an extra one. Maybe he'll get to stay... . Stephen Smith, the 8-year-old son of Dudley Smith, state salvage director, is one of his dad’s most enthusiastic helpers in the

Washington

“WASHINGTON, Sept. 29.—The real trouble farm

ers are in is not from prices but from a shortage of labor. “The labor shortage has weaved in and out of the . infation fight as an argument in favor of boosting the parity basis for farm prices.

child are doing well, and Dick is busy trying to figure out a name for his heir. . . . Seen in the audience at English’s during the Lunt-Fortanne show last night: Mrs. Wendell Willkie.

By Raymond Clapper

ment which in normal times the forces of cgmpetition take care of through regular management opersation. But present conditions are chaotic. Employers do not know how many men they will lose and how rapidly. Anyway they are deep in riew problems connécted

Farmers are losing help for two «with production of war goods and simply are unable

reasons.. One -is that the draft’ - and enlistments are taking large numbers from the ‘farms. The" «. other is that the high wages paid in aircraft and shipbuilding plants’ are drawing labor from the farm. The draft is rapidly on tie way to becoming the big factor. It is bound to hit industrial labor very hard within the next two or three months. ; ‘Although the farm labor shortage has been used ‘as an argument for, boosting farm prices, it really is an argument for something else— an overhauling of the whole manpower problem. Several things can be done before the question of

government control over all manpower is decided.

The Tolan committee of the house has given much study to these possible moves shars of manpower

. control. Many Firms Hoarding Libor

OF THE most important™is to make the most efficient use of existing manpower. Those who have studied this problem say that some’ employers, anticilabor shortage and loss of men to the draft,

have overhired to be sure of a cushion. This hoard~ ing of labor is one field which the Tolan committee believes the government should attack. Another is the training of older men and women for replace-

"ments. A third is the use of men at their highest

as

These are matters of intricate personnel manage-

My Day

: pr. ‘WORTH, Tex.,, Monday—1 wonder how many people realize What if costs to teach some one things

". he should have'learned in school, after he has®come

into the srmy? Dr. Studebaker feels that even now Wis adult education should be done in the home communities before a man is taken i into the army. ; There are some 340° men in Md., training center, h going to school. Ord‘nance work requires an ability to. ad, because as; one officer said,

to devote adequate attention to training persons as future substitutes. - The Tolan committee has recommended that the manpower commission set up a staff of specialists in labor utilization to assist employers. in mastering their manpower difficulties.

Facing the Real Task

WITH RESPECT to semi-skilled labor, the Tolan committee has several suggestions. It would expand vocational training for groups hitherto largely excluded from industrial employment, such as women, the aged, handicapped, colored and other minorities, It would subsidize trainees and finance their transfer to areas where they were needed. : It would have a civilian defense campaign in areas of general labdr shortage to draw into the labor market persons liv‘ing there who are not ordinarily employed—sueh as housewives. Most of those who are studying the- ‘manpower problem believe that it is rapidly reaching an* “explosive point. It is reaching into dairying, and ‘we may be forced to ration milk unless fam labor is provided somehow. The administration must soon face the real task, which is to bring about a balance in the whole war program. That meang balancing at the top—fitting strategy, military needs, labor supply, agriculture, materials and plant capacity into relation with each other, so that essential production is not interfered with by the draft, nor by unnecessary production. Such questions need the attention of a topside clearing house and’ there is ro such clearing houge yet. Why? Just because Mr. Roosevelt hasn't pr .around to a

By bo Roosevelt

when he was-8, and then he went to work in the mines and has taken care of himself ever since, with jig Yes that, Be has bay four mnths of school in e.

One man with greying hair, who told me he was

44 years old, was laboriously picking out letters from |

a pile in front of him to spell the word “dog.” The group of officers teaching these men are really quite extraordinary, They have developed a remarkable system of visual aids. Many of, them have had teaching experience in the past.

They try to keep the classes down to. 10°or 12 and | ag they give a great deal of individual attention to each ; But these pupils are costing us somewhere |F around $175 a month. Wouldn't it haye been cheaper |E

pupil. fot all of'us' it we had Ren Yui tiny had Had decent

——— — : © By Ernic Pyle

ol wa of A Htiesteigl cide W305 Saou

Parity Fight May Mark ‘End of Alliance With Big City Workers.

Timés Special WASHINGTON, Sept. . elections Nov. 3 will be analyzed carefully to see how far President Roosevelt has lost out with the farmers. Reports to the Democrats from the Midwest and Far West farm areas is The fight over farm parity is a symptom of the growing dissent

rural and small-town areas, be ginning in 1938, and rising in 1940

Northwest states—Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas—as well as Colorado, and closely threatened the president elsewhere in that area.

"G. O. P. Edging Back

edging its way back in the Midwest. This oncé normally Republican territory constituted with the East the alliance so long successful for the party. President Roosevelt broke through to victory for the Democrats when western farmers furned to him in droves in the desperate depression years to join the consistent Democratic alliance of the agricultural south and the big-city democratic organizations. There are indications now that western farmers are slipping away from this alliance. The alliance of farmers and industrial workers is the ideal long pictured in this country as the basis of a strong people’s party, but when hard times are over it does not take long to fly apart. °

- Their Goals Differ

President Roosevelt gave both groups such an opportunity economically and politically as they never had had before. They organized themselves politically, both for effect at the polls and for betweenelection legislative purposes through lobbies here in the capital, but each always for its own particular ends, never in combined action. Mr. Roosevelt benefited at the polls personally when each group, for. its own reasons, supported him, but he was never able to bring both groups behind a legislative program in’ ‘which their ‘dniterests were givergent, as is being demonstratedin the current parity fight. What is boiling up now, apparently as a sort of farm revolution, has its sources much further back. Republicans began, even in 1936, to capitalize the germs of discontent in the farm areas over WPA and the growth of unionism. in the wns and cities, both of which complicated the farmer’s labor problem.

High Wages Bother Farmers

It could be easily magnified with the age-old feeling of hostility toward the city. Politicians working the country circuits could *get a hearing with their word pictures of city folks ‘on WPA as people who didn’t want to work, and of unions as the brain children of “agitators.” This - sort of campaign was pumped up with real effect in 1938 when Republicans recaptured 80 seats in the house. It was reflected in the inroads made by Mr. Willkie in the farm sections in 1940. . Farmers and labor are further apart today than in a long time, according to reports from the farm areas. Farmers are sore because of the failure to stabilize industrial wages, which is basic in the fight over the anti-inflation bill. This is reacting politically against the administration’ and most surely will be felt in the November election.

YOCKEY HEADS GOP SPEAKERS BUREAU

‘Harry E. Yockey, co-ordinator: of county G. O. P. campaign activities, has been placed in charge of the party's ‘speakers bureau, publicity, radio and arrangement of meetings by County Chairman Henry E. Os-|. trom. :

Volunteer workers, Mr. Yockey said, will be used more extensively this fall than in any pelitical campaign of recent years. Women, he added, are being given responsibilities in the management of various headquarters départments. . Mr. Yockey said there had ‘been “splendid” response to the invitation

ties are being assigned te all those who want to work.

HOLD EVERYTHING

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29.—The

to a vote for Wendell L. Willkie|: that carried seven Midwest and id

The Republican party is slowly].

“and

for campaign helpers and that du-|-me

Skimming through’ anti-alreratt. fire, low Jap bombers come in low at ‘Guadalcanal, Solomon islands, to attack U. 8. transports (extreme left). Black bursts ‘are intense Snti-aireraft fire. :

which has been reflected in the in-|—— creasing vote for Reublicans in|

The ~

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8 7 coming

_ INSTALLMENT XIV—ATTACK ON JAPAN

THE FAR EASTERN looked on as a sideshow.

THEATER can hardly be

The Japs are formidable and

tough opponents and, even with the fall of Germany, will remain there still to be beaten. Nevertheless, the strategical requirements operate against the splitting of our forces. We are not strong enough to beat both the axis partners at one time and are compelled to take them on

in detail.

As far as Japan is concerned, there are three principal points from which we could strike from the air now.

One is Hawaii, which is 3882 incidentally, Gen. Mitchell

miles from Tokyo and which, considered relatively sub-

ordinate to the circle of islands which bisects the Bering

Sirait and connects Alaska with the Asian mainland. If we can equip and hold an air base at Dutch Harbor and build a good military road from the con-

tinental United States to

the. key Alaskan bases, we will ‘be only 2174 miles from the tip of the main Japanese island. The most favorable base would

+ he Vladivostok, which is only 665

miles from Tokyo; but-there-is no

“tenable Hope of retaining it once

the Japanese were conscious of the fact thats it was to be used as’ a springboard for an i: offensive against : their principal cities. - Probably the most that can , be said Tor an illiam air offensive w Bh zn against the Japanese islands ‘at this time is its moral effect and its deterring influence on Nipponese operations elsewhere. From a purely military view it-would seem that the

_providential conjunction of fac-

tors makes Germany, the objective’ in the first concentration

‘of assault. She is at once ac-

cessible to attack and is, moreover, the strongest; hence the principal enemy. Just as we seriously underrated them before, we now with * equal lack ‘of reason consider the Japanese military as a practically irresistible fighting force. Actually the Japanese have yet to prove their mettle against a first-class fighting army under terms which F: equality of armament tion. Wherever they have gone, they have won by virtue of ‘crushing: numbers, ¥ (T “ow » » Japs. Weak in Air DESPITE THEIR fantastic exploits in . sinking capital ships, they are especially weak in the air. Wherever they have met our boys on equal terms, as over the Coral sea, or in the battle of Midway, Japanese fliers have been The Nipponese air force is a miscellany of slavishly imitated

.

Tt. is doubtful ‘whether the Japs | ° sce turning out 80 miliary air<

class land-based air power which

is in » position to take the initia- ,

tive and strike from well-prepared bases, their whole military position will rapidly disintegrate.

“= Japan’s geographical position

as a naval power would render any attack by water practically suicidal. To her rear are the Japan and Yellow seas, which wash ‘on Korea and Manchukuo and the occupied ports of China. She holds fast every island step-ping-stone which would be required. to Jaunch an attack

against her home centers,-and is

reaching out for strategic bastions: into the Indian ocean. Any effort: aimed at taking Japan from the sea is a chimera. She can only be successfully assaulted from the land. flank, and this involves active Chinese participation and probably that of the Soviets as well, 2 ”

Alaska Is Key

‘THE KEY fo domination of the Pacific ocean is Alaska with its connecting necklace -of islands forming an air-power bridge around the neck of water which ‘ separates the land mass of the Old World from the New. These constitute a great highway pointing directly at the big Russian air and submarine base of Vladivostok, which is, itself, only an hour and a half as the row flies, from Tokio, The main American base is at Dutch Harbor which is only 1400 miles away from the big Siberian peninsula of Kamchatka, with the many stepping-stones of the Aleutian islands in between. If we strongly fortify the mainland of Alaska as ,well as the chain of islands curving off from it to thle west, protecting these natural fortresses with an interlacing network of ‘powerful air bases, we may safely utilize a holding action against Japan while engaged in the job of subduing Germany. Once the reich is out of the war, Russia and allied portions of Europe would be able to throw their entire effort into a crushing attack on the Nipponese empire. We ourselves could then land men and machines over a safe land route. A large-scale land operation in Asia would knock. Japan into a cocked hat, and her defeat on the mainland would doom her islands to extinction. Her industries would be instantly deprived of major sources of coal, manganese and animal and vegetable products

q she badly requires. ,

Jap Cities Vulnerable

AIR POWER attacks would

Hod al} Da clits Sugieally vulnerable. They are as inflam-

+ raider completely invisible to

Red Cross Chapter Wins Army-Navy 'E' Pennant

7 a

ny

William B. Ziff

mable as so many matches boxes. An assault on water reservoirs, or on a few hydraulic and thermal generating plants, would pile up thé metropolis of Tokyo in hopeless confusion. Most of the railways are electrified and can be put out of commission by bombing the one main track with its transformers and transmission lines. The hub of the railroad system is Tokyo, whose orderly existence would be turned into bedlam if the yards were destroyed. The blowing up of a single railroad bridge would do the trick alone. A sea blockade against Japan, similar to the one undertaken by Germany against England, would greatly weaken the Nip‘ponese and perhaps throttle them. completely. Japan is more exposed to this type of attack than any other nation. Immense gaps of water separate her from all her outposts and sources of supply. American submarines have already been busy hacking away at the Japanese lifeline with excellent results. By mid-April, 1942, American forces had sunk or crippled more than 160 Japanese ships—a rate of better than one a day.

We Can Outbuild fr

THERE IS NO reason in the world why we should not outbuild the axis in submarines. At the present time we possess quite a Substantial undersea fleet. If ‘this is the means by which we can cut the throat of the Japanese cyclops, nothing should prevent us from building 500 or even 1000 submarines. American tech- . nological genius and facilities can turn them inté a weapon far more formidable than the Germans ever conceived. Like the airplane, the submarine is still in the experimental stage and presents possibilities for great accomplishments. It may be possible to build them of gigantic size. The big French boat, Surcouf, carried a scout plane in the hangar on its deck and was equipped with two eight-inch guns and two 37-millimeter guns, as well as her re tubes and a nest of machine guns, making it a truly formidable weapon. The improvements to be looked for are an increase in the number of torpedoes and tubes, as well ‘as a greatly extended cruising radius and carrying capacity. The addition of strength to the hull plating and frame will ulti~ mately allow a depth test of as much as 600 feet, making the

scouting aircraft.

s » »

Submarine of Future

IT HAS EVEN been advanced thet the submarine be considered as a. cargo carrier. A 3000-ton underwater boat, by sacrificing torpedo space, could carry 200 men across the ocean. Twenty such ships plus thirty-others carrying four amphibian tanks apiece, : would - provide the elements of occupying power on any weakly-held shore. A daring project which may alrealy have been put into exo- | cution by the Japanese, explaining the presence of their little two-man submarines in Pearl Harbor, stemmed from the experiments of the British ' submarine commander, Colin Mayers. This brilliant inventor advo-

mother ‘submarines ith “long cruising radi. Smaller subs car-.

, Will present the “E" pin to Dr. Clyde al adviser

ried within the mother's belly could be released under water at full speed and engage the enemy shipping in packs. 3 Complete blueprints were made with specially constructed run ways down which. small sub= marines “no larger than a whale” would slide in cradles, liberating themselves about twenty-feet below the surface. The plan was never carried out by the Britishadmiralty, which regarded it as “fantastic.”

Mayers Built Models

COLIN MAYERS' built several experimental models of an artillery submarine carrying a 12-inch cans ~ non fore of the conning tower, with the gun-housing watertight so as to enable the crew to load and service the weapon while submerged. It was anticipated that this powerful arm would be able to deliver its shells six seconds after the submarine had broken surface. Mayers also advocated sub-sea aircraft carriers with hydraulically operated hangar doors, enabling the planes to get in quickly so that submergence could proceed with out delay.: “In the art of sub-~ marine-airoraft cooperation : /on the high seas as well as for coastal operations,” he wrote with dramatic vision, “we are just on the threshold of many interesting de= velopments.” (Coprright, 101 1943 by Po William 8 Zifr;

publis and Pearce; Sissbueed ov Duel Feature syndicate,

NEXT — Cargo argo Planes Vers, Ships.

'Y’ WILL HEAR TALK ON CHINESE RELIEF

Miss Josephine Brown, formerly a Y. W. OC. A, secretary who servedin China, will speak at 8 p. m. this evening at the Central Y. W. In behalf of Indusco, Inc., the American Committee in Aid of Chinese Industrial Co-Operatives. a Miss Brown is making a-nation-wide tour explaining the work in = China in order to interest citizens in contributing to the United War \Relief fund. The C. I. C, is one of e agencies of United China Re~ , included in the fund drive.

five months in China observing the co-operatives there. They are de= signed to provide a means of liveli= hood for refugees streaming from occupied districts: and to produce goods for the civilian population and the armies. Since the Burma road has been cut, they have grown even more in importance. s Miss Brown will show a film, Nation Rebuilds,” in connection with her talk. The event is being

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (U. By —The' Boker “T. Washington, firs:

the National Youth tion. The ship 1s expected ‘to be BE middle of

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