Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 October 1942 — Page 9

By Ernie Pyle

‘Hoosier V agabond ACCORD NEARS

‘ LONDON, Oct. 17.Miss Patricia Hartnett, one “And wter—1 don't think they believe in It except of the American Red Cross girls in England, con- for bathing. ‘You never get it ‘without -asking for it] tinues her “diary” of her first few strange days in and then it is given you with & loook of tolerant

~ wartime London:

vst. eeu Cathedral was as vast and beautiful as

I expected it would be, byt I was a little disappointed in St. James’

Palace—it didn't look as palatial

as I thought it should. Bucking~ ham Palace was impressive, although it didn't look quite right

to me because there were none Of

those guards with the high fluffy hats I'd seen in newsreels. “We wanted to have tea in the | old place Samuel Johnson hung out in (the Cheshire Cheese) but it was closed and we ended up in

a little tea shop near Fleet Street

which 3 was a sort of modern eateterta, not so differ-. ent from a Child's.

' “While we were drinking our tea a lady gittting at

the next table chatted with us a while, and seemed Very pleased we were here, and warmly wished us a happy day. Again I was impressed with the great friendliness of these people, for every place we go . they make a point of talking with us, and seem glad . to see us here. “Since I've seen no coldness nor. shyness at all . exhibited, I'm beginning to wonder if it ever did exist except in books.” \

The English od Water

“ONE THING I've learned, the English simply “don't believe in drinking anything with their meals “except wine or beer. I asked for coffee with my dinner tonight, and the waitress looked astounded, then excused herself, and asked the headwaiter’s per- # mission to serve it at the table! It is definitely the ." custom to have your coffee in the lounge AFTER dinner, and you are very odd indeed if you want Ra] otherwise.

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

PROFILE OF THE WEEK: Dr. Arthur Curtis Corcoran, assistant director of the Lilly Clinic at City hospital, who at the age of 33 stands as one of the crack scientists of the country in the field of hypertension (high blood pressure). An energetic, volatile individual with a wide range of interests, he is both erudite and engaging. His friends call him “Cork,” his wife says “Corky.” He's a Canadian, born at Waterloo, Quebec, about 60 miles from Montreal. He attended Loyola university, got his medical degree from = Montreal's famous i McGill university, interned three i years in the Montreal General PR «hospital, then got a bid to the Rockefeller institute in ’36 along with Dr. Irvine H. Page and in ‘37 he came here with Dr. Page, who himself is celebrated for his work as director of the Lilly Clinic. (See Inside Indianapolis profile, Aug. 16, 1941.)

An Ambidextrous Painter

BESIDES THE close working relationship, tie two men are fast friends. Both of them love to sit and argue by the hour and one of Cork’s main delights is trying to beat Irv Page in rough and tumble debate. Lately, Cork has been “helping” Dr. Page paint the Corcoran residence out on W. 44th st. Cork does “the high work on a 40-foot- ladder and paints-equally well with either hand. ~ Young Dr. Corcoran is stockily built. He's about . 8 feet 7, weighs about 150. He wears horn-rimmed . glasses. He has sparkling, ‘snapping blue eyes and irather sharp features. His hair is tawny, blondish. He's constantly in physical motion, walks with a springy step, gestures freely and constantly. He smokes cigarets—a good many of them. When he ' starts out on anything, he does it as if the Devil himself were after him,

‘Washington

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17.—Somewhat disturbing

facts have come out in the testimony over lowering .

the draft age. They suggest we may have been weak on the planning right at the top. They indicate that selective service has been taking many of the wrong kind of men and that: these already have become a liability to the army, which is trying to get them batk into civil life. Selective service is more than two years old. We have had that time—granting that a rush start had to be made—in which to readjust and dovetail the needs of the army with requirements of industry and agriculture, and certainly to be screening out men who would be a liability instead of an asset’ 0 service. Yet Gen. Marshall, chief of staff, stood before a senate committee this week and told about visiting the army hospital’ at Ft. Bragg. He was shocked at the age of the men. One was a good mechanic, 43 years old, drafted from the Dodge plant. He is in the hospital with angina, hernia and two other ailments. ‘Some of the older incapacitated men had been in ‘the army only a few weeks. Gen. Marshall said such ' men were a burden and should have been kept at their machines. He said they were not increasing the army’s strength but reducing it; and that if this continued the army would have to enlarge its hospital facilities before it even got into action. He said we have already had to bring men back from Australia because they were too old when they were sent ott.

No Typewriter Strategy, Either

: SECRETARY STIMSON says too large a percent7 age of men over 40 are in the army, The army is getting too old already. Brig. Gen. White, assistant chief . of staff, testified that 20 per cent of the men already

; inducted are not fit tor gther ‘than limited duties.

WASHINGTON, pridas_Yesteroay afternoon. 1

London.’

- scientific treatises.

-work of the Indiana Committee for Victory and it

- Sits Cross-legged

amusement. “Our waiter at luncheon today gave quite a dis« course to my companion on how Americans love ice water, and ended by saying, ‘Do you know how many pitchers of water we serve for breakfast, now. we've 50 many Americans ‘here? Two hundred, sir! Do you know how much we served before they came, sir? None, sir!" “Many of the menus are in French-not nice. easy| decipherable French ‘like filet mignon or caulifiower| au gratin, but long: ‘complicated totally foreign strings of words even for vegetables. p “My well-forgotten Latin doesn't help me at all, and I feel terribly illiterate the mament the menu is flashed before me> : .-,

How Many Stones Did You Say?

“WE DID A ‘little sight-shopping today—I say sight-shopping because we couldn’t buy anything since we had no coupons. “We went to Selfridge’s, the biggest department store in London. We saw some good tweed suits, but after mentally breaking down the price from guineas to dollars, decided they were priced about the same as in the States. But it would’ be. nice fo say. when we get home, ‘Oh this, T ‘bought it 1 was in

“The sizes of suits and dresses run differentiy— according to hip measurement; so there: was some consternation on the saleslady’s part When we asked for 12's and 14's. ; "Speaking of hips, we all got weighed, and had a fine time frying to figure whether we'd gained, since the weight. is given in stones, not pounds. I thought a stone was 14 pounds, but someone else said. 16, and another 12, so I don’t know any more than I did before weighing in, but you can bet I'll soon find out!” (Note—A stone is 14 pounds, and Patricia weighs more of them than I do, ha ha.—E. P.)

Reads French Fluently.

HE'S A DYNAMIC person, intellectually. He has a remarkable memory, can quote bits from most anything and is constantly astounding his friends with the scope of his information. He speaks French fluently, reads Free French and French-Canadian publications and his wife thinks that when he. was only 2 or 3 he could recite the alphabet backwards and forwards in both French and English. She ought to know, since Jeannie Corcoran grew up with Cork, was his boyhood sweetheart. An inveterate reader, his home is piled with all kinds of material, from detective stories to technical His favorite subject is hypertension and he can hold forth by the hour on the gravity of the disease and the public's lack of knowledge about it. Of recent months he has been wrapped up ¥ the

has become his main outside activity. As a matter of fact, he was the author of a publication which the committee will issue this next week.

When he becomes interested in something, he becomes oblivious to his surroundings. Once when he was moving into a house in the middle of winter, he was found seated cross-legged in the middle of the living room, furniture piled about him, reading a book which happened to catch his eye. i Incidentally, his ability to sit on his feet, Buddhalike or tailor fashion, is one of his best tricks. It's quite a stunt—sitting with his feet on top of his knees, instead of under. If you don’t think so, try it yourself some time. ? ; It’s typical of Cork that he never wants to go to bed until the wee hours and then usually takes a book with him. And, naturally, he’s usually indifferent about getting up the next morning.

By Raymond Clapper

Twenty per cent ot the present army is 850,000 men. These are not complaints of typewriter strategists. hose are the facts stated by the secretary of war, he chief of staff and his assistants. Anyone interested in the war cannot help but have some questions raised in his mind by the disclosure of these facts. First, insofar as these conditions might be corrected by bringing 18 and 19-year-olds into the army, why are we just getting around to it—two years after selective service was adopted, and 10 months after Pearl Harbor? The army has been conscious of this situation for a long time and has wanted the draft age lowered. Why was it only this week that Presi-

oN RECORD TAX

9 Billions - in in Mew Levies!

Approved; One Billion to “Apply as Credits.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 (U. P.) —

House ‘and ‘senate conferees today neared complete agreement on the biggest tax bill in history after de-| ciding individual and most corporation rates for 1942.

They scheduled what they hoped

would be a final meeting to take up senate amendments giving corporations a 10 per cent post-war credit on excess: profit taxes, But most features of the bill have been decided and America taxpayers can now see just how the government will take an estimated . $9,600,000, 000 more from their pocketbooks next year.

Nearly $8,000,000,000 of that

amount will be in direct new taxes. The remainder represents money which will be credited to taxpayers or repaid later.

Approve 40 Per Cent Levy Latest attion was approval of a

40 per cent combined normal and surtax rate on corporations earning more than $50,000 a year. This was the rate fixed in the senate bill. The house had voted 45 per cent. Present law is 31 per cent.

But in return, the senate agreed

to restore the capital stock and declared value excess profits taxes it had struck from the house bill. The rate of this tax is $1.25 per $1000 of declared valuation. meant $74,000,000 more revenue annually. /

Restoring it

Both this levy and the new 40

per .cent corporation rate apply to corporation income received since Jan. 1, 1942, as do most of the taxes in the bill.

$350 ior Dependents

Previously, the conferees com-

promised a dispute over the amount of personal exemption to be allowed for dependents by agreeing on $350 —action which reduced the yield of the senate bill by $110,000,000. They also approved the new 5 per cent ‘|victory tax, with minor modifications, which is designed to raise $3,650,000,000.

While taxpayers will pay the new

high regular rates on income earned since Jan. 1, 1942, the victory tax will not ‘apply until next Jan. 1. Wage and salary earners will have

t deducted from pay checks by

their employers; others will pay the tax with their other levies.

Within certain limits, everyone

who spends money for government bonds, or to pay debts or insurance premiums, will get a credit against the victory tax: The credit limit is 25 per cent of the tax paid if the taxpayer is single, 40 per cent if he is married, and there is an additional 2 per cent credit for each dependent.

Some May Get Bonds On March 15, 1942, taxpayers

whose employers already have deducted the tax from their pay will be able to use the credit by deducting it from other taxes. But if they have no other taxes —and about 18,000,000 persons will be in this equal to the amount of the credit which they can cash in after the war.

rlass—they will get a bond

Taxpayers who have not paid the

tax—for instance lawyers and doctors who live on fees—will simply

dent Roosevelt finally gave the green light? It's Up to Mr. White House

MR, ROOSEVELT has blamed most of the trouble in Washington on congressional investigations, subordinates who made ill-advised speeches, and the press and radio. Are they to blame for this neglect, too? ': Or could it possibly he that Mr. White House didn’t get around to it until this week? Second, does not this condition show something wrong with the selective service policy? Deferments have been handled by local draft boards. It is considered the democratic way to allow a board to pass on the men in its own neighborhood. But in practice a board. is ordered to produce a required number of men in a month. The natural thing is for the board to produce the required number of men without devoting too much time to investigating essential needs of industry or agriculture in its area. The pressure to fill Yuotas also means often that medical examination is not adequate. The pressure has been for numbers rather than quality. These Yuestions are important because it is now being debated whether manpower allocations shall be handled through selective service or by some other organization. | It looks as if this is something that needs more

to now. . - By Eleanor Roosevelt | T won whatever battids over ourselves we are put in this world to win.: Therefore, she neither needs nor cares

shout, things, which seem most important; to the rest) ‘of us, who are just ordinary mortals. i

deduct the credit before paying it. + The 5 per cent rate applies to all income in excess of $624 a year, or $12 a week, but if a husband and

wife both work, each may take the $62¢ annual credit.

Fees Are Exempted

A last-minute revision of the

tax provided that “fees paid to a public official” would not be subject to the withholding feature.

In other words, the cilizen who

paid a sheriff or justice of the peace a $2 fee which under the law became part would not 10 cents and turn it over to the government.

f the official’s income, required to hold out

Officers, employees and all elect-

ed officials would all be subject to the victory tax, and to the deductions each payday.

The house also accepted a sen-

ate amendment permitting individuals to deduct medical expenses before paying taxes.

The house, however, refused to

accept a senate amendment exempt- ' publicly-owned utilities from White House attention than it seems w have had up he P y Si .

SEE EARLY ACTION ON

MNT FOL TA BL

V. A Frank Verdict y By LELAND STOWE Cont 2 dap ines WITH THE RED ARMY ON THE RZHEV FRONT. —“What a little soldier. He must be a boy. What’s he doing in uniform?” We were just riding up to the headquarters of Capt. Emma’s unit when Ivan the Terrible swerved our jalopy within sight of the smallest soldier I had Seen since Jannina, Greece. But he looked so miniature ‘and out of place in this front sector of the badlands that 1 couldn’t quite believe my eyes. The othe: commissar, who was in the front seat, the battalion commissar, answered be-

fore Capt. Emma could. “Oh, that's Petya. Sure, he’s a soldier. He's been adopted by the regiment.” “Adopted?” Maybe my brain was numb from the eternal bumps and bounces. I didn’t get it at all. “That's right,” . said Capt. Emma, “quite a lot of Red army

units have adopted orphan boys. If this one is like the others, he probably lost his parents and home when the Nazis came. Then the regiment adopted him.” “Well, can’t we get to talk with him? How about getting him to drive back with us tomorrow? So far I have only met one boy soldier in three vears of war.” “I could find you half-a-dozen or more along the Rzhev front alone,” laughed the battalion commissar “but- we'll pick up Petya tomorrow morning.” . . . » ” FJ

Every Inch a Soldier

SO HERE WAS Petya Kaputovski standing all of four feet, six or seven inches, in his trim, coffee-gray Red army winter overcoat and smiling shyly. He is 12 years old and if anything his boyish face looks even more boyish underneath his army cap with the red star on its front. The tanned skir. of his face looks like satin—there is scarcely a bit of down on his upper lip—but his cheeks are glowing with ruddy crimson. Petya climbs in the back seat with Capt. Emma and I climb in the front with Ivan, who has used -up another precious oblong of the back page of Pravda for his morning cigaret. Petya, it should be explained, is one of those musical Russian diminutives—it means little Peter and you pronounce it Peetya. The things which impress me most about Petya are his remarkably soft voice and the straight, clear gaze of his handsome gray eyes. This is really Capt. Emma’s in-

' terview. After all, she is just as

interested as I am. Besides she is not very much bigger than Petya and I can see that Petya feels the warmth in her dark eyes. There hasn't been a mother or any other woman in his life for many long months now. He sits very erect in the rear seat like a soldier should sit and he answers Emma's questions like. a soldier should answer them.

Tells Story Simply

WE ARE STARTING back across the battle-ravaged, bogspotted marshlands with a truck to pull us out of ditches, through pools and across brooks and quagmires. When Capt. Emma gets a section of Petya’s story, she relays it to me in French or Spanish and usually I can write it down fairly well, because we are stuck in the mud or being hauled by the truck. Petya tells his story very simply and when we ask for more details he never hesitates. You need not watch his face very long nor iisten to the gentleness of his -voice to understand how very easy it would be for Petya to get adopted anywhere in the world. ; “I lived in a village near Kalinin,” Petya is saying. “The Germans came in October, ‘eo Right

Russian children orphaned when Germans carried their parents away.

away they looked for all Jews and all relatives of partisans in our village. My father and many other men had gone into the forest to be partisans. The Germans came looking for people in every house. When they came to our house I hid under the steps and my Brother, Shura, hid with me. Shura was 9 years old. ‘The fascists took my mother and my two younger brothers and my two sisters. They tied their hands with rope. Then they led them away and put them into the biggest house in our village. And all the families of partisans and all the Jews they could find they put in the same house. We were terribly frightened, but we could see from under the steps. And then when the Germans had filled the big house with people, they set it on fire—they burned it down.” » EJ »

Burn Other Houses

SUDDENLY PETYA'S volce had become dull, almost lifeless, yet his eyes never faltered. “How many people were in the big house?” I asked. “There were very many-—more than 100,” Petya said. “Many of the women and children were crying when they took them in. Then we heard them screaming and screaming when the fire began to blaze up high. Petya stopped again suddenly and looked away—away toward the front. Capt. Emma looked at me but what I saw in her eyes was something far more lasting and unstemmable than tears have - ever been. What I saw was the explanation of why she, a woman and a mother, was war commissar

in a front-line regiment in the red

army. “Did you know any of the children whom the Germans put in the big house?” I asked Petya. “There was Kalia and Genia— they lived in our street. And Valodia—he was 12 too and we went to school together. There - were others whose -names I don’t remember. Then there were little children. Some of them couldn’t walk and their mothers carried them when the fascist soldiers pushed them into the house. “Then, after the Germans had burned them all in the big house, they began to set fire to all the other houses,” Petya continued. “It was getting dark and I knew they would burn our house too and then we would have to run

out and be killed. So when they

were setting fires to the other houses further away, I told Shura that we must crawl behind the shed and run to the woods. So we crawled behind the shed and out into the field where the fires did not throw much light yet— and then. we ran as fast as we could » t J ”

Learns Father Slain

“BUT I WAS barefooted. I didn’t dare go to the house to get my shoes, so I ran barefooted. It was very cold too after we got in the wounds. couldn’t be very far away and our father was with them. So Shura

and I kept walking until we found the partisans—and then they told

us that my father had already been killed fighting the fascists.”

6 of 10 DePauw Students Dream i in ‘Technicolor’

GREENCASTLE, Tnd., Oct. 17 . P).~It isn't quite certain whether

spired by a dream. . e In addition, Dr. Middleton discovered that four out of 10 persons pull a Disney when it comes to music. They think of a bolero as red and 8 waltz a5 hive, Most Color hearing

I knew our partisans

By this time we were up to the axle in bog and the truck was only able to haul us out by a series of frantic jerks. When we finally got out again ~ Petya resumed where he had left off. “The partisans gave us something to eat and tied some rags around my feet. But they were having big fights with the fascists and said that we couldn't stay with them. One man took us: to find a Red army unit. We had to go’at night. We walked all that night. The next day we found our Russian soldiers. They sent Shura away to be put in an orphanage. « “But I said, I don't want to go into an orphanage or any children’s home. I am big enough. I want to stay with the army. I want to fight in place of my father. I am big enough. I can fight. . . . “I begged. the comander very hard so at last they let me stay. But I was very sick for a long time. I couldn't sleep. I kept remembering my mother and brothers and sisters and the fire—and: the way they cried—.” Petya’s small childish voice fell away then into silence. Capt. Emma looked at me and I looked at Capt. Emma. We didn't say anything more for awhile. Then Capt. Emma said, “nerves.”

Then, providentially our car hit

another bog—and about 10 minutes later we were crawling ahead again. : - » ” He Learns to Shoot

“AFTER THE commander said I could stay, I was very happy,” Petya said and now his gray eyes became lustrous. “They gave me a uniform, a real Red army uniform, and then the soldiers gave me shooting lessons. First they gave me lessons with a pistol and then with a rifle and later with an automatic—but I don’t know the machine gun yet.” Petya’s face became suddenly sad as he made that confession but he added swift, “but I know the German automatic very well.” Capt. Emma’s eyes were laughing now as she translated and Petya’s smile as he looked toward me was like that of a boy who has found his first air rifle on the Christmas tree. “At first I went on scouting trips with our soldiers in the forest,” Petya said. “Then one day we had a fight and the Germans shot me. Not bad—just a little. Here in the knee. I was in the hospital, bu. when I came back the commissar wouldn't lef me go on scouting trips any more. I cried and cried but the commis-

sar wouldn't let me go. I didn’t.

like that commissar any more. “After that they gave me new work as a messenger. . But the raids were lots better. But now I like our division and regiment very much. It’s a very good division—a guard division. And Commissar Pavlov is my very good

* friend. I like Commissar Pavlov

very much,” Petya’s eyes were shining again. “Don’t you have plenty of bombs around here?” I asked.‘Petya noddec his head vigorously. “Yesterday we had lots of them,” he said. “And the day I was riding horseback taking a message to another unit the fascist sent over some big ones and one

TOWNSEND MEETING T0 HEAR PUBLISHER

E. E Neal, publisher of the

Noblesville Ledger, will address a|f mass meeting of Marion county|p

Townsend clubs at 1 p. m. tomor-

row at Pt. Priendly, 512 N. Ilinois i

st.

Knopp presiding. The ‘council has indorsed the candidacy of Rep.

(gous udiow and 0. Neal is ex-|. : ‘to speak, possibly on this,|

Townsend clubs of

exploded only 100 meters away. I crouched down over my horse's neck and how I made him gallop, We ran away from that spot very fast.” ” ” ”

A Proud Horseman

THIS TIME Petya's gray eyes . were dancing but his smile was still shy. “Oh, yes, I've got a horse,” he explained proudly. He's just three years old and small and brown. He's very good looking and I call him Rocket. I learned to ride horseback with my regiment, First they used to send me with a motorcyclist but then the roads got too bad for motorcycles and then they gave me my own horse.” “When will you go to school again, Petya?” “Oh, after the war I'll go to school. There is no time to take lessons now. We have to fight.” “And what would you like to be

when you finish school?” ¢

Petya gave his answer to” Capt. Emma. He looked at her uniform and the commissar’s red star on the sleeve of her overcoat. “I want to be the same as you,” he said. “Or perhaps an aviator. I don’t know yet. If, there isn’t any war then I'll de a peace aviator so. I .can make long voyages.” “Perhaps you'll fly to America some day, Petya.” “Yes, that would be fine—and do American boys like airplanes too?” . . . yes, I'd like to see America. Once I saw an air battle with two American planes against. a Focke-Wulf, It was right over us and one of the American planes fired very hard into the Focke-Wulf and it came down burning and smoking. We all cheered and yelled for the Ameri~ can plane. I think American planes must be very good,” ” ” 8

THERE WAS silence for awhile and then Petya wanted to know what kind of money we have in America. I found a dollar bill in my pocket and asked him to keep it as a souvenir. When I pointed to George Washington, he nodded his‘ head quickly as if he recog nized Washington without any help. . “If you don't lose the dollar, when you come to America you can buy a meal and ice cream and chocolate candy with it,” I said. Petya fired back the question very swiftly. “Where is it you can buy ice~ cream .and chocolates?” ” Stupidly I had forgotten that Petya was in the-army and that he hadn’t seen a store of any kind for nearly one year. Now we were back on the main road, ‘such as it was, and Petya was going back to his regiment in the truck. I emptied the last tobacco out of its round English tin and Petya thought it had a wonderful odor. He sniffed it. deeply and sniffed it again. So I handed him the tin—in wartime even a tobacco tin may prove very useful and ‘perhaps he would like it. ; Petya stuck his nose inside the tin to see if some of the smell was still there. Then he turned, smiling, to Capt. Emma and his gray eyes were shining brighter than ever, “I am going to give it to the commissar,” Petya said softly.’

HOLD EVERYTHING

The meeting will be held under|} the auspices of the Townsend plan's| } {11th district council, with Charles