Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 November 1942 — Page 9

SATURDAY, NOV. 28, 1942

The Indianapolis Times

SECOND SECTION

. Hoosier Vagabond

Hats come under the same heading. For some

(Editor's Note: This is one of several articles written by Ernie Pyle in England, but received here after his departure for Africa.)

LONDON (Delayed)—The shop windows of London are deceptive. A visitor could live here for months and feel that there were practically no shortages in the stores—because the windows look nice and he came equipped and doesn’t have to shop for anything. But just let him try to buy something. Some little old thing. I spent two days trying to find some brown shoe polish. You can’t buy a Boy Scout knife. Little baby buggies for dolls are out. Finding bobby pins for women’s hair is like finding gold. They've quit making the quinine tonic that so many people use in their gin drinks over here. You can scout the city in vain : for a set of darts—England’s national game, There are not more than a dozen manufactured things in England today which aren't either prohibited or controlled. For fancy, nonessential things you don’t have to give coupons, because their manufacture has been prohibited, and the stocks left on the shelves are on a first-come-first-served basis. When the last one is bought, they're out for the duration,

Changing Blankets Into Clothes

"THERE ARE LOTS of things in this category. For instance, you can still buy, without coupons, the most beautiful blankets and auto robes. Many women are buying these and having them made into coats—thus augmenting their slim clothing allowance.

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

PROFILE OF THE WEEK—Daniel J. Tobin, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, vice president of the American Federation of Labor, and probably the only man in town who can pick up his phone and talk to President Roosevelt or most anyone else in Washington any hour of the day or night without delay. Dan Tobin is a tough, twofisted, leather-lunged Irishman with a stout heart and a “diplomacy be damned” attitude. He's been president of the Teamsters (625,000 members) ever since 1907, and there’s never been any doubt who is boss in the union. He's 3 proud of the fact that in 35 years, : ; no one ever has run against him! Mr. Tobin for re-election, He's 67—and sensitive about his age. About 5 feet 7, he weighs maybe 175. His white hair is unruly, his eyes piercing. He pays no attention to his clothing, and his hats usually are out of shape. His head is roundish and pulls the brims askew, and the way he yanks them from his head and jams them back on again doesn’t help any. He expends vast quantities of energy in whatever he’s doing: never walks—always seems to be half running. He's constantly switching from one pair of glasses to another. His voice is loud and resonant. He dictates letters just as though he were making a speech before a convention—shouts, gestures, paces back and forth.

He Roars and Blusters

HIS IRISH TEMPER flares quickly—subsides just as quickly. Ha roars and blusters a lot—probably doesn’t mean half of it. Sometimes when he’s talking tough, you can see a smile flitting about the corners of his mouth. You've got to talk fast to keep abreast of his thoughts. He has a habit of saying: “Now, wait a minute; I kno what you're going to say.” And he generally does, too. Self-educated he has read a lot and has a good memory. He’s reputed once, during a memorial service, to have 1eciteq from memory William Cullen Bryant's Thantopsis—probably the first and only time that particular feat ever has been accomplished by a

Washington

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28.—Over the next few weeks some war plants are likely to be closed down, resulting in a considerable number of layoffs. Some authorities are concerned lest the shutdowns be misunderstood. And they may well be concerned in view of the way some people who ought to know better are leading themselves to a campaign against nation-wide ' gasoline rationing. This and automobile tire registration are about the smallest sacrifices a citizen can be asked to make, yet to hear the beefing that goes on and to see the crocodile tears that are being sprayed around the floors of congress you would think people were about to be shot. It is the least defensible bit of griping that the war.has kicked up. If we have all of this crying over an attempt to cut down waste of rubber tires, how are people going to take the plant layoffs that are coming? Some layoffs are in the works because war needs are changing ad, as they change, war production also must change. Tie

‘What the Shutdowns Mean

IF WE HAVE more tanks and trucks than can possibly be shipped abroad, why not slow down on them and put the materials into ships to get more carrying capacity? We don't have to worry about an , axis attack on the western hemisphere as we did at one time, so there is less. need to pile up enormous supplies over here. It is a“ good guess that for a while our heavy emphasis in production will go to planes and ships. Tapering off of some other production will release materials for those two urgent needs,

My Day

WASHINGTON, Friday.—I am going to New York city today for a Prief visit. I shall try to see a number of my friends who have been ill, and tonight I yhope to go to the theater to see Thornton Wilder's “The Skin of Ou: Teeth.” This will be the first play | I have seen since I was in London, where I went to the theater just once. There one goes at 6:45 and has supper somewhere around 9 p. m, and returns home rather gropingly in the blackout. So I look forward to this evening, rejoicing that things are still so much pleasanter here. - I have a letter from which I want to quote: “Ioes it not seem to you that the hatred and re-

_sentment that is Sowing | in the of it

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By Ernie Pyle

DRAFT DELAY

reason they are considered luxuries, and their manufacture has been almost prohibited (only 24% of pre-war amounts are permitted). There are still scme left of the original stock, but before long a hat will be as scarce as the famous hen’s tooth. The government has prohibited the manufacture of any toys containing more than 10% metal. No toys or games using rubber, cork, celluloid or plastic material are allowed, except ping-pong balls, No more billiard tables are being made,

No, Not Clothes—F ood!

MANUFACTURE OF all the following has stopped: Book-ends, picture frames, ash trays, manicure sets, powder puffs, artificial flowers, napkin rings, pencil sharpeners, cigaret cases, metal coathangers, bird cages, andirons, cash registers, lawnmowers—the list is endless, those are just a few. When present stocks are bought out, which they will be within a few months, life in Britain will really be down to the essentials. It is pretty much that way already, if you go beneath the surface. Life has lost so many of the nice little things. Nobody is hungry, nobody is naked, very few are cold—but a Spartan existence has indeed set in. An American friend of mine has | been quizzing the girl secretaries in his office, to see just what their outlook is and what their desires are. He has asked them what would be the very first thing they would spend their money for if the war were suddenly over and the stores suddenly stocked again. Oddly enough, it wouldn't be clothes. It would be food. That's strange, because not a one of them is

APPROVED FOR

18-19 PUPILS

Deferment for Last Half of

Academic Year Possible Under New Ruling.

Selective service regulations have

been amended to allow deferment of 18 or 19-year-old registrants attending high schools or similar institutions of learning. The announcement was made today by Col. Robinson Hitchcock, state selective seryice director,

Such registrants, he said, will be

classified and if found available for military service, will be ordered to report for induction in accordance with their order numbers and in the same manner as other registrants. The registrant may at that time request, board postpone his induction.

in writing, that the local

If the local board determines that

hungry. They don’t even want to go out and buy What they want is to seé the pantry with rows and rows of spices and olives and the luxury things people don't have now.

a huge meal, shelves full,

top flight labor chieftain.

Born in Ireland, he emigrated to the U. S, when | he was 19, worked as a teamster. president in 1907 in recognition of his efforts in uniting the two competing teamster organizations. He has five sons and a daughter—all college graduates,

Felt Safer on Ground

AS HEAD of a powerful union, he has been telling its leaders that the membership may have to give up

he has reached his 18th birthday, but has not reached his 20th birthday and that he is pursuing a high school course in the last half of the academic year, the local board shall | postpone the induction until the end of the academic year. If the registrant fails to fulfill any of the above requirements, he shall be inducted in the usual mani ner, Col. Hitchcock said. The amendment includes only He was elected | courses of study of the usual high school level and does not- include courses of elementary or grammar school level or college or university level. The phrase “last half of the academic year” will be interpreted strictly by local boards in making their decisions.

‘executive board bought a mansion in Miami for $45,000

Most Critical Period Is Coming

some of its gains during the war, for the sake of victory, and counseling them against strikes. He's strongly opposed to the Communist philosophy here— comments that “in Russia, Communists are patriots; here they are traitors. He's an ardent supporter of President Roosevelt, served as his administrative assistant in 1940. At one time he was discussed as a possible successor to Madam Perkins as secretary of labor. Dan Tobin enjoys food, never misses an opportunity to get blue point, oysters on the half shell, and lobster. He loves to reminisce, can recall interesting events of 30 years ago—even down to the day and hour. He likes the movies, drops in one whenever he has a couple of hours to kill. He isn’t particular what's showing; just walks in, sits down, and then comes out criticizing the film,

Enjoys Irish Music

HE NEVER LIKED to fly, always felt safer with one foot on the ground, but now is sold on flying for long trips. One of his first flights was to England and back last August at the request of President Roosevelt to study British labor's contributions to winning the war. He drives his own car. He has no chauffeur—in fact, no servants at all, although the union pays him a thumping big salary, A few weeks ago the union’s

as a gift for him, setting aside $50.000 to cover maintenance and servants. ‘He declined the gift. He dearly loves Irish music, and enjoys nothing more than finding an orchestra that will play his requests. He particularly enjoys the old tunes, such as “Snowy Breasted Pearl,” but also gets a kick out of the more modern Irish ballads. He likes to shop, and you're likely to see him in city market most any day, buying the family supplies, including his breakfast sausage.

By Raymond Clapp r

Above everything else we now need ships, ships, ships to get more men and weapons overseas, and escort ships such as destroyers and corvettes to protect this merchant shipping. Cargo ships are not enough. Escort vessels are more and more needed because Hitler's submarine production rate still reaches an astounding figure.

LIKEWISE WE NEED planes and more planes, to pulverize the axis. Ground troops have their essential work to do and there is no idea that this war will be won without ground troops doing a lot of fighting. But we are going into the period when the softening up of Italy and Germany from the air can save many lives and hasten the end of the war. And if we only had a relatively small number of planes to spare for China, Japan could be shaken to her bones. Gen. Chennault has shown what can be done with a handful of planes.” Give him a couple of hundred more and you would see something happen, Changes in war orders are dictated by the progress of the war, and by the high command. The army ordnance branch only obtains what the fighting arms of the army order it to get. The fact that ordnance has done its production job so well, that industry and labor have done their job so well, puts us in the fortunate position of being able to taper off on some work so that we can go all-out on other work. And while it isn’t fun to be laid off, it is a less severe calamity than an axis attack on ths United States would have been—and we may have been closer to that than we realized. Finally, it should be clear from the foregoing that the coming shutdowns do not mean that Washington sees the end of the war coming. Those here who should know, expect plenty of hard fighting. In fact the swing of the war in our favor requires redoubled effort, to follow up our advances before Hitler has time to reorganize.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

“People out in rural localities and small cities want to win this war, they all have sons or dear ones being killed—but they also know that taking their tire away

from them and storing it (Heaven only knows where) to - ‘rot’—until someone can do something about it— paying almost nothing for it, limiting their necessary activities, restricting them beyond all reason. The masses of people don’t like this nor feel it is necessary, and are doing plenty of thinking—each in his own way about it. “People everywhere are hoping that congress will see that more investigation be given this tire and gas rationing, with a hope that the drastic thing can be done away with. Why is it that as soon as a man is appointed at Washington, he ‘becomes so drastic in his methods’ and acts like all the other good Americans were ‘just dogs’ to be kicked and hounded?” This letter is unsigned, so I cannot answer the Writer directly.

establishes modern bases tropical jungles and are known as ‘“Jungleers,” “the guns.”

RESIDENT REPORTS

SOLDIERS WELL FED

Praise for the co-operation the

United States forces are receiving in South America has been expressed by William F. Willoughby, a senior inspector on overseas bases with the Panama division of the army engineers and an Indianapolis resident.

Mr. Willoughby is in Indianapolis

until Jan. 1 when he will return to Panama for another assignment. He has been stationed in South America and Ecuador, at 702 N. Linwood st.

He lives

Mr. Willoughby was surprised at

finding conditions here so near normal and says the boys he has met overseas are well fed and taken care of and counting the days until they can come home.

The Panama engineer division in the

“Jungle Men,” and men who go ahead of the

Local War Poster Shown in New York

David K. Rubins, Instructor in sculpture at John Herron Art school, has won an honorable mention with the poster, reproduced above, in a nation-wide war poster contest.

Using paint brushes as their

“weapons,” 2000 of the country’s leading American artists attacked the “enemy” in the competition sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Artists for Victory, Inc., and the Council for Democracy. The 200 entries judged best, including Mr. Rubins’ work, are being exhibited at the New York museum.

AIR RAID FIRE EQUIPMENT IS RECEIVED HERE

Pumping Units Will Be

Distributed Over City; Volunteers Sought.

The government has issued auxile iary fire fighting equipment, ine cluding 60 pumping units, 120 of the 24 foot extension ladders and 72,« 000 feet of fire hose, to Indianape olis for use in protecting the city in case of major fires resulting from air raids or other wartime disasters, Forty of the new pumpers alsy ready have been received and will be distributed throughout the city, in residential as weli as the busie ness and industrial sections. Twenty auxiliary firemen, to be recruited in the neighborhood, will be assigned to each pumper to ine sure full working and relief crews, An experienced fireman will be in charge of each crew.

Must Recruit 1600

Fire Chief Harry Fulmer said toe day that 1600 auxiliary firemen must be recruited to man the new equipment and made an urgent ape peal for volunteers to enlist in this branch of civilian defense service, Applications for enrollment are bee ing taken on the third floor of the city fire headquarters, New York and Alabama, sts. “Adequate preparation to combat fire is absolutely essential to come munity protection against aip raids,” Chief Fulmer said. Pointing cut that the city’s regue lar fire department, like those in other cities, was organized for peace-time protection and does not have the men or equipment to come bat either an incendiary attack op an organized campaign of arson, Chief Fulmer said the supplemental equipment and a trained auxiliary fire-fighting personnel are essential for the protection of the city’s homes and war plants under ware time conditions.

Volunteers Trained

Training of civilian volunteers ag an organized fire-fighting force to

VAGANGIES REMAIN ON HOSPITAL BOARD

County commissioners have been

trying for more than a week to find qualifiea persons to fill two vacancies on the board of managers of the Marion county tuberculosis hospital at Sunnyside.

Three vacancies occurred on the

board within a month and commissioners have filled only one of them. They appointed Dr. Jerome E. Holman to succeed Dr, A. L. Marshall whose term expired Nov. 1.

A week later Irving W. Lemaux,

president of the Security Trust Co., resigned from the board and this week, Dr. Russell S. Henry resigned to enter military services.

MEGREW AUXILIARY WILL HOLD DINNER

The Past Presidents’ club of the Maj. Harold C. Megrew auxiliary, United Spanish War Veterans, will have a dinner and card’ party at 5:30 p. m. today in the Colonial tearoom, 1433 N. Pennsylvania st. Mrs. ‘Laura M. Oren and Mrs. Luella D. Porter will be hostesses and Mrs. Wilson C. Oren is arranging the bridge party. Mrs. Elizabeth. M. Gwin will preside at an election of officers.

PENSION GROUP TO MEET Indiana old-age pension group 11 will meet at 8 p. m. Monday at the I. O. O. F. hall, Hamilton and E. Washington sts.

HONOR FLEET HERO

IN REQUIEM MASS

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 28 (U. P.) —Archbishop John J. Mitty yesterday celebrated requiem mass in St. Mary's cathedral for Rear Admiral Daniel J, Callaghan, who died

a hero's death leading the cruiser San Francisco into victorious battle against a Japanese fleet in the Solo-

mons. Admiral died, said Archbishop Mitty,

nity,

world.”

Callaghan fought and “to preserve human life, human dighuman freedom and human liberty; to keep this a free world and not allow it to become a slave

assist the regular fire department in a wartime emergency has been under way since the civilian defense program was started immediately | following the attack on Pearl Hare r Volunteers are trained in fundae mental fire-fighting practices in the fire department's training school, under supervision of Battalion Chief A. Frank Craig, department drill instructor, assisted by a staff of experienced firemen.. The traine ing course for auxiliary firemen consists of twenty-two hours ine struction in practical fire-fighting methods and ten hours of first aid instruction. Chief Fulmer said classes are are ranged at hours to suit the convene ience of trainees, and that service as auxiliary firemen will not cone flict with business or working hours,

U. S. Air Victories Prove Worth ‘of ‘Stunt’ Flights of Yesteryear

By CHARLES T. LUCEY Times Special Writer \ When Wiley Post, Jimmy Doolittle, Roscoe Turner, Comm. Richard Byrd, Amelia Earhart, Charles A. Lindbergh and others were breaking all manner of transcontinental and around-the-world flying records some years ago, a considerable section of the citizenry took the attitude: Spectacular, yes, but what's the value of it all?

It took a while to prove it, but you might get the answer today from some tough, bright-eyed American kid who is pushing a flying fortress out over the Pacific any one of these mornings or from another of the same kids strafing a German troop column in Africa.

And if this kid had time between missions he might grab hold of part of the story to tell you how 100 horsepower was about the aircraft top up to world war I, how the war brought the 400 - horsepower Liberty motor, how nothing much more happened until Lindbergh flew to Le Bourget, and- then how it went to 600 horsepower by 1930, 1000 by 1935, 1200 by 1938 and in this year of global warfare to 2000 horsepower. That story, of course, would be the sum of many stories—of dozens of failures to one success, failures in flight and in laboratory, discouragement for engineers and designers, death in an ocean or against a mountain crag for some of the air pioneers. But out of the heartache years came engines that were dependable—bearings that would carry the load, pistons that wouldn't crack in two, carburetors that wouldn't ice over, valves that wouldn't burn out.

Epic of Persistence

Valves that wouldn't burn-out— a typical story of aviation development. It’s a story of the persistence of American industry and ‘of the resourdefulness of its engineers, metallurgists and chemists, a story you get today in Cleveland, where Thompson Aircraft Products Co. is working night and day on one of the most vital jobs in the country’s war production. Not a very romantic thing, a valve. It’s the little piece in the engine that looks like a longstemmed toadstool in metal, which controls the opening

through which the exhaust gas escapes. In a racing airplane engine it is being pushed up and down at a terrific pace, maybe 2000 times a minute, every time taking a sledgehammer blow. Because the temperature of the explosion is red hot at around 1600 degrees Fahrenheit, the valve becomes the hottest part of the engine, Now, the importance of a good valve is this—great heat may destroy the steel of which a valve is made, warp or burn or corrode it, and unless there is some means of cooling that red-hot valve it is burned .out and the motor ceases to function. That's why for 20 years Thompson, and men like Robert Jardine of the Eaton Manufacturing Co. and S. D. Heron of the Ethyl Gas-

“THIS CURIOUS WORLD

(opting

AND ARE NOT POPULAR. WITH AUSTRALIAN

oline Corp., followed the quest of a valve that would stand up to the job. When plane designers after the war sought to make bigger engines the valve was a limiting factor, and one of the first attempts of the engineers was to squirt cold water on it for cooling. But the water-cooled valves burst. Then the engineers found they could drill a hole up through the stem of the valve and partly fill it with a liquid that would swish up and down with the motion, carrying heat away from the valve’s head and transferring it to the cooler stem. Years were spent in trying to find the proper liquid. Mercury was tried, but it was found too heavy and didn’t carry off the heat successfully.

By William Ferguson

FARMERS, SINCE THEY COMPETE WITH DOMESTIC LIVESTOCK FOR GRASS AND OTHER CROPS.

WHAT IS SPEAKING b IN THE SHELLEY POEM BELOW

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POCKET GOPHERS CAN RUN BACKWARDS THROUGH THEIR BURROWS

AT ABOUT THE SAME SPEED THEY TRAVEL

The engineers kept on and 'began to experiment with various compounds of sodium and potassium. These, it was found, served as a cooling liquid without creating steam pressure which would blow the valve apart. At last came the experimentation which settled valve cooling on pure metallic sodium, the substance which helps make possible the high speeds with which America is carrying an air war to the enemy, When Lindbergh took his Spirit of St. Louis to Paris it was a test for the valves on which the engineers had. worked for years, a guide post which told them they were moving in the right direction. Each year, also, Thompson was sponsoring the Thompson Trophy races to test and help it to learn more about what made valves work properly and to try to find out what had happened when they broke down. Admiral Byrd, in his flights to the. North and South poles; Amelia Earhart and others were giving the valves the same grueling tests on their flights. But still only the hollow stems were being cooled and the liquid did not get up into the solid heat of the valve at all. So forging specialists went to work to find a way to forge the whole valve of hollow steel. There were years again of almost helpless trial and error, using all variety of trick forging dies, to produce a valve that would be both strong and hollow.

Victory Valve Found

The first successful hollow valve was made by using an insert of copper in the center of the valve, then melting it out to leave a cavity—possible because copper would melt at lower temperature and leave the steel intact. Then the engineers went on to other methods and today there's one which: can’t be discussed in wartime, but which, again, is a good part of the reason for many an air victory for the U. S. A. As engineers sought the answer to the cooling problem over the years they sought at the same time for constantly stronger. alloys. One rich in tungsten and nickel was developed, but, while it was strong, it had a surface softness. ,

Again the metallurgists went to |

and placed in. furnaces for long periods at high temperatures minute quantities of nitrogen soaked into the skin of the steel and hardened it as the metallurgists sought to.

Power Steadily Increased

Always, as metallurgists worked in their laboratories and flying men demonstrated where the scie entists were right and where wrong, the horsepower of aircraft engines was increasing. As the valve took more and more punish= ing blows per minute it became necessary to find a tremendously hard valve end which could abe sorb this destructive beating, Welding the hardest of tungsten steel to it solved that one, But the valve seat, too, had to be made harder, and an alloy of tungsten, cobalt and chromium was applied, drop by drop, under the white-hot flame of an acetylene torch. It was done by hand —a heavy strain on the eyesight and muscles of the workman who did it. And he turned out only three or four an hour. For 10 years machine designers and metallurgists sought a better * way to do it. Thompson engi neers worked with the people who produced the alloy. Some $250,000 was spent on experimen * tation on this single item. But that experimentation paid off. Today the job is done many times as fast by machine and men are freed for other important jobs in the vast Thompson , Pblant.

HOLD EVERYTHING