Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 December 1942 — Page 9

a ’ 5 $f rg TR + FRIDAY; DEC. 25, [942

Our Daily Bread By Thomas L. Stokes

| WASHINGTON, Dec. 25.—8don you will get your daily bread without the celiophane wrapper. Nor will it come already sliced. - Deliveries also will be sharply curtailed. | ‘Retail stores no longer can return day-old bread that wasn’t sold. These sole of the economies arranged for the baking industry so that it can still" sell bread for the same price and, at the same time, pay the - miller more for flour. That will enable the miller to pay more for “his wheat, and thus break a log-jam caused by refusal of the farmer to sell . his wheat until he got a higher price. Such is the plan being worked out here by Economic Stabiliza-

i he tata stat mis won sae wok -get 58 cents more’ a barrel for flour in order to meet

rising costs of production due to higher costs of wheat.

The alternative seemed to be either ‘to raise the price of bread, thus puncturing price ceilings, or a direct

subsidy to the millers of 58 cents a barrel on flour.

Farm Bloc Opposes Subsidies ioe

"SUCH A SUBSIDY was proposed by Secretary. of Agriculture Wickard to congressional farm bloc leaders. - It .was coupled with a condition that congress enact a law permitting release of the government wheat needed for the millers without. reference

to the ban in existing law against selling such wheat}

below parity prices, unless it is damaged or is for feed. Farm bloc leaders rejected this proposal. _ They

‘are opposed to subsidies and to selling wheat “below

tion Director Byrnes, Secretary of Agriculture Wick# Parity. They proposed, instead, that the ceiling price ard whe also is food administrator, and Director Leon On bread be raised to meet the situation.

Henderson of OPA, to meet a developing price, dilemma,

~ Closing of Some Mills Forced

THIS DILEMMA was caused by the fact that the price of cash wheat advanced 15 cents a bushel after a ceiling price was put on flour, with the result that , the miller had to pay more for wheat than he could ; * charge for the equivalent in flour. Difficulty is experienced by others in getting wheat, as farmers have been withholding their wheat for a higher price. Consequently, part of the plan, * aside from the baking industry economies, is for release of 150,000,000 bushels of wheat owned by the commodity credit corporation, a government agency, to the millers.

Then government agencies involved brought for“ward the baking industry economies with the idea that sufficient economies could be effected for the bakers to pay 58 cents more a barrel for flour, which

would roll back and provide an increase of 6 to 12

cents a bushel to the farmer for wheat. The agreement, too, provided for disposing of ‘the government wheat at parity prices. This arrangement was acceptable to farm bloc leaders. But then it was discovered that economies in the baking industry would permit less than 58 cents a barrel increase for flour, probably somewhere between |.

35 and 45 cents, This would mean that a direct sub=-

sidy to make up the difference would .be necessary. Farm bloc leaders balked at this, and further conferences were arranged to work out a solution.

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

ONE OF THE NICEST Christmas gifts you could imagine was presented to the Blodgett Brennans (state conservation department) at 9:30 Wednesday night at St. Vincent’s. Jt was a 6 pound, 13 ounce

ai Shell probably draw Patricia for a name—Pat for short. , .. And speaking of Christmas presents, there's the case of William B. Robinson, display ad salesman for the News. Bill, who has a couple of small children and lives out in the country, got home the other evening and got the mail out of the mail box. Sandwiched in with the Christmas greetings was a letter from his draft board notifying him to report for a physical exam for reclassification. He decided to go see the board and check up. In the board office, a young woman looked up his rec ord, then said: “That's right; we called William B. Robinson, but you're not the right one.” Bill grinned happily and heaved a sigh of relief.

Just Jottings

SEEN. AT THE Athenaeum with their heads together - the- other - night: Henry Ostrom, G. O. P. county chairman, and Glen Hillis, the party's gubernatorial nominee two years ago. .. . Pvt. Ted Mimolat, formerly with WIRE, is at Ft. ‘Bragg, N. C, as - VOC trainee. After 13 weeks there, he goes to Ft.

téaifing at Fi. .Brage 46 another home-toyner— Pvt. John H. Daily, the lawyer. ‘He's the son: of Thomas A. Daily. ., .-; George Shull (Star) has gone to. New York with ‘the Office of War : Information. He's taking a- training. ‘course and expects to be sent overseas. soon: -. , . Mrs. Geneva Page, telephone operator for the Indianapolis Engraving Co., has a remarkable memory fof phone numbers. Fellow workers: say she knows something like 800 telephone numbers by ‘memory. -And. she’s pretty good at re-; yr telephone Vices, too. We know.

Washington

| WASHINGION, Dec. 25.— There isn’t much that -can-be said appropriate to the Christmas seasqn this year. It doesi’t ‘seem’ ‘to fit this time. You. almost wonder. if it isn't an ifsult to Santa Claus. to ‘have. “him wandering. around. You would . want. to tell the OY Solow to stay away. except - for e very small children who haven’t yet discovered what kind o butchering civ-i lization their parents and ancestors have created. . The usual holiday greetings ) sound forced and hollow this year. We mean them as usual, but we know they do not fit into this Christmas. How can there be a Merry Christmas or a Happy New Year “in the ‘midst: of organized -murder, cruelty, want and anxiety in the matority of homes in most of the so-called civieed world? The ‘hest you can wish Yor your friends over this Christmas is that the season’s grog will’ put them into a cozy twilight sleep. where they can forget for a while.

Inventive Touch. Lost i in Statecraft

> sehool. o + “Also: dn oo

Dear Sir, You Cur!

A RATHER SUBTLE Christmas greeting has been received by a local official of one of the government's alphabetical agencies, The greeting was from a scrap metal dealer whose activities have been regulated and otherwise interfered with by the official. The greeting read: “This letter is to let you know we have many thoughts and special wishes for you at the Christmas season.” No doubt. ,’, . A business man we know confides he is giving his wife a “mighty fine Christmas present—one the whole family can enjoy.” Pressed for details, he whispered that it was six whole cases of canned food. . . . And then there’s the hotel check room employee who was wrapping up eight pounds of coffee to send to some relative in another town. Merry Christmas. 0

Around the Town’

AN ELDERLY WOMAN got off a bus on Central the other day and hung onto it with ‘one hand while she got up her courage to start walking across the icy pavement. She stood there a couple of minutes,

meanwhile warning the operator not to “shut that door, young man.” When she finally got started, the operator started the bus and @remarked to nearby passengers: “What was she doing out there; cooking her supper?” .. . At least one of the banks won’t sell more than five war bonds ‘a day to any one firm.

Takes top. mu clerks av iat + +. County Clerk Charley Ettinger “had a farewgll Sy ‘in his office yesterday for his several dozen deputies.. Picnic lunch and everything. The. employees gave Charley a fine oriental throw rug for in front of his fireplace. 8 » ® MERRY CHRISTMAS from old Inside to all you readers. And that goes double to all our “agents”— those ‘folks who make us look good by handing- us the little items that make up this column. Yes gir. A very merry Christmas. 4

By Raymond Clapper

_come cowards. They are afraid to experiment, afraid to take any risk—and of course they thereby only increase the danger of which they: are afraid. They lose the inventive touch ‘in stateeraft and public affairs. They have the greatest difficulty in working together at anything long enough to make progress. Nations and peoples can work together to kill much better than they can to live.

‘We Don't Know What Plane Means’

- LAST SPRING ABOUT Easter time, I flew in a huge airplane over the land of Bethlehem. From 5000 feet in the air we looked down on the roofs of Jerusalem. - We could see men plowing with oxen and

wooden plows much as they did 2000 years ago. I saw one of them, plowing a hillside as we few close to it through a valley and he shook his fist at us ‘and hurled a stone after our plane. He could not understand the intrusion of this modern monster that roared over his field and frightened his animais and himself as well. "We are:very much like that man ‘ourselves, even though we fly over: his fields in an airplane. We invented the plane ‘and we opegate it with great skill, but we still. don’t know what it means. We don’t know yet that:with only a few of these planes the

~~ whole world could be policed and kept from perhaps

IN ORGANIZED WORLD murder, men show magnificent courage, invention and ability to work together, ‘But not when you try to leave the murder out of it and try to organize civilization for living instead of killing. ~~ If your purpose is to live instead of kill, then everything is is different. Men and governments be-

My Day

making a third attempt at global suicide. We ‘use the airplane with daring in war. We are afraid to think how we might use the airplane to prevent war and save life. ’ The child who was born on that Christmas night lived to cry in despair, “Oh, ye of little faith!” That's still the way it is—or is it?

4 By Eleanor Roosevelt

WASHINGTON, Thursday. —How ‘completely the gives to ‘the Christmas season its real spiritual

character of Christmas’ has changed this year. .. I could no more say to you: “A Merry Christmas® ‘without feeling a catch in my throat than I could fy “to he ‘moon! We all know that for too many - people this will be anything but a Merry ‘Christmas. : It can, however, be a Christmas season of deep meaning to us all. "The Christmas story is a re- : minder to us of a life so unselfish, _ 80. completely lived in the interests ’ . of other people that there was no : jo0m fa & anywhere for thought

knew. that. at. the end life He would have to pay a gumrene. sacrifice, and: yet «to make that

significance. } WHATEVER OUR PARTICULAR religious beliefs may be, we still can feel a share in this Christmas spirit and try to do our part at this season by making life just a little bit brighter wherever we ‘touch it. So many families will be divided, so rhany people - will find ‘their hearts hovering over far away places, that it will be hard even to keep “a smiling face” as Robert Louis Stevenson admonished us to do. You will perhaps remember the story of the man| who had nothing in the world to give and so he always gave a smile,.and when he reached St. Peter's gate, the little angels that. § wglvomedt him in were the

chitrch: service and then I ‘hope to have time for a flying visit “to “Walter Reed hespital to the wards where some of our ‘returned wounded from “Africa are being treated. After that I wil stop for a few minutes at the ¥. W. C. A. where they are having a Christmas dinner “SGWernment workers who are strangers in Washnd who have no family connections here. to me a very nice gesture for the

em S

#E . A. to make, and I am glad to be given pS SST Jo Soh 10. 10 8 thw minutes to wish] du

m the limited | supply . off:

ter of empty shell cases on

ynotebook and a camera, so 1 sidle beside a multiple Vickers gun spewing 2000 half-inch bullets every minute. A few feet to my right an eight-barreled pom-pom is coughing incessantly and a half dozen feet away a four-inch high altitude .ack-ack is crashing, its baTrel nearly horizontal instead of skyward, to meet the onrushing torpedo bombers. A cooling liquid is gushing, over the : guns and the paint blister on them are as big as tennis balls. Gunners are Bes moving like a neoy Brown movie running too fast. Some are very young and eager and breathless with excitement, their faces streaked with sweat. The white : cloth anti-flash helmets covering their heads, cheeks and shoulders are now soaked and discolored. Some are wearing life belts "nl “Mae Wests.” A whol e pom-pom awingé this way that, with its seated trigger a feet braced, riding with it. That is a dizzy job. The torpedo-carrying bombers are coming ‘in. We are putting up a beautiful barrage, a wall of fire. But the bombers come on, in a long glide, from all angles, not simultaneously but alternately. Some come head-on, some astern and’ from all positions on both sides of the ship. They level out. About 300 yards distant from the ship and 100 yards above the water, Shey.

Can ‘See Pilots Eyes

THE TORPEDOES seem small, dropping flat into - the ° water, sending up splashes, then streaking toward us. Those bombers are so close you can almost see

* OVERSEAS GIFTS ARRIVE IN TIME

Yanks All Over World, ‘Stimson Says.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (U. P.).— If you mailed your gifts to American soldiers and sailors and marines

overseas by the Nov. 1 deadline they

have been delivered. That assurance was given yesterday by War Secretary Henry L. Stimson. * Mr. Stimson said that a record volume of Christmas mail, fotaling, about three times that received bv American soldiers in France for the combined Christmas’ periods of 1917-18, had reached its many overseas “destinations. ; The war secretary praised the army postal services’ for its contribution te morale of trgops abroad by delivering Christmas mail on schedule. : Climate and Boredom’ “I particularly have in mind,” he said, “the boys stationed in small isolated spots who have no Germans to entertain them, or where the Japs have not yet called in, and who ‘ have nothing to combat but climate and boredom.” ? Mr. Stimson said that this week’s distribution of Christmas mail to American soldiers abroad ‘will total more than: 10,000 tons, including more than 2,500,000 individual holiday packages. - During the first 15 days of -De-

jcember, 31,032,722 individual letters

and cards were dispatched. Forty per cent of these were transported overseas by air, In a special effort to insure delivery, planes carrying mail exclusively transported some 13,000.000 letters to all key points abroad.

BRITISH PRELATE SEES TURNING POINT PASSED

LONDON, Dec. 25 (U. P)—A new year’s message of the Most

“good ground for believing that the turning point mn “the war has been reached and passed.” - - THe ‘message published: in the Canterbury diocesan gazette said:

high hopes but it is no

tank

* _ the side of the plane, I

2,500,000 Packages Reach |

Rev. William Temple, archbishop of : .| Canterbury, said today - there is

“We enter onthe new year with]

~ XVll—The Torpedo Planes Swarm INSTANTLY EVERY GUN aboard the Repulse is

“stuttering and roaring and the whole ship vibrates and the pom-poms are spitting out empties furiously. But the clat-

the deck is unheard in tke

slap-slap of A. A. guns, the crack-crack-crack of 4-inch , guns. A voice beside me says, “Look at those yellow rats come!” The Repulse is twisting and snaking violently to avoid torpedoes. My only weapons are a fountain pen, a

the color of the pilot's: eyes. The bombers are machine-gunning our decks as they come in. I've just seen three more torpedos drop. Another plane let go a torpedo. Then it banked sharply. The whole side of the bomber is exposed to us. Shells and tracers are ripping into it. It’s fasc‘inating to watch. Tracer bullets from our guns are cross-stifching the Mky, just above eye level, with long, thin

white lines, slightly curved. For °

me this whole ' picture—orange flame belching from the 4-inchers, white tracers from pom-poms ancl Vickers guns, and gray airplanes astonishingly close, “like butter= flies pinned on blue cardboard— is a confusing, macabre game. But this, I ‘realize, is .deadly business, too. Three gunners 10 feet from me slump. over with Japanese machine-gun bullets in them, It’s difficult. to comprehend sudden death. But they aren’t the only casualties in this terrible ‘moment, A torpedo bomber has just dropped a tin fish and banked without gaining altitude. It glides beautifully, parallel with the Repulse at a 10degree angle, and still tracers are plowing into it. It doesn’t seem to me the plane is going to crash until an instant later I see that it isn’t going to pull out and is still gliding toward the sea. It strikes the water and immediately bursts into flame. It burns fiercely, a 20-foot circle of orange on a blue sea. I run to. the starboard side of the flag deck, where another tor-pedo-bomber- is coming in, It is difficult to judge distance, but I guess it’s no more than ‘200 yards - away when it swerves. I ‘don’t see the torpedo. And with good reason. There's a huge hole in t’s aflame, and instantly it seems to buckle. I got a beautiful picture of this one, . As though stricken with a cramp, the bomber dives, shapeless, flaming, seaward. It's just ‘a pillar of fire until it hits the water and spreads out into noth--ingness.

' SECOND SECTION

The answer came ‘back fr m1 the Prince of Wales (above) . . “We are out of control. Steering gear

is gone.”

9 Bombers Attack

THE MEN on the catapult « eck are still trying to get the d nw aged aircraft over the side.’ Is gasoline makes it ‘a fire haz x1. That red-bearded New Zeal rd pilot is working atop the crue trying to heave the Walrus « ver the side. As the Jap torr:xo bombers come in to drop their ish and machine-gun our decks, h : is firing at them with his pistol

There are nine bombers in t a:.t

. attack. It ends at 11.51.

At 11.51%, Captain Tennan s sending a message to the Wa es: “Have you sustained any d:mage?” The answer comes back: “We are out of control. Steering gir is gone.” The decks of the Repulse ue littered with empty shell ca ei. Upon the faces of the sails there’s a mixture ‘of incredu it’ and a sort of sensuous pleas re, but I don’t detect fear. The e’s an ecstatic happiness, ut strangely, I don’t see anyth n;; approaching hate for the atta k- - ers, For the British this is a ccntest. This facial expression is nterpreted by an officer. He tu ns to me and says: “Plucky blokes, those Japs. That was as beauti u! an attack as ever I expect to se: Hell never see another actin. - He's at the bottom of the Sou (i. China Sea.

* there is a line of bullet holes.

Wishes for Ohio

OUR GREAT concern is that the Japs are going to crash-dive the ship. I understand enough about naval warfare to know that the flag deck is a good spot on which to crash dive. Suddenly it occurs to me how wonderful it would be to be back in Ohio. A voice says: “Here Yaey come, again.” 12.01—Twelve torpede bombers launch an attack at all angles. One even.launches a torpedo directly astern, which seems silly, since we are twisting rapidly. Planes coming from port and starboard are headed directly at the bow. I see the Prince of Wales being subjected to an attack also, and a bomber is coming toward us from a 1000 yards, directly ahead. 1 think, “Here comes a crashdive.” The smell of cordite is suffocating. My eyes ache with the blows of shell blasts. Now I am standing in front of the smokestaek. The view is good -and I have jusé taken some more

pictures of the bombers coming in.:

I hear a rai-tat-tat and whine which seems higher and closer.

move away from that position. No

sense in magnetizing any more Japanese machine gun bullets. It’s the same as before—amage ingly daring torpedo-bombers are targets for mere moments. They

rush headlong into our almost ‘solid wall of shells and bullets and are seemingly unaffected. The water is streaked with the tracks of torpedoes. A sudden roar goes up on one side of the ship. It's another bomber down, but I didn’t see it. If it wasn’t so awe-inspiring it would be routine: the way planes rush in, drop a tin fish, machine= gun the decks of the Repulse and roar away. . *During this attack, as during * the first wave of bombers, Capt. Tennant on the bridge of the Repulse directly above the flag deck is saying in the coolest, calmest possible voice: “Thirty degrees port. Thirty degrees starboard. Thirty degrees port. . . .”’ zigzagging this 32,000-ton battle cruiser out, of the path of those torpe=

does. (*Denotgs scenes and arks.

* which I did’ not attudlly-Witness or, hear.)

than the crash of other guns. I

look around .to see where it is coming from and then glance overhead. Two feet above my head, drilled in the smokestack I

TOMORROW: “All possible :

hands on deck. Prepare to abandon ship. God be with you!”

(Copyright, 142, by Random House, Inc.; distributed by United Features Syn= dicate, Inc.)

Housewife Becomes ‘Kitchen Soldier, Guards Family Appetite Against War Rations and Rising Food Costs

By ROSEMARY REDDING

Take your hat off, papa. Salute one of the country’s best soldiers. She sits right across the dinner from you every night and,

like a soldier, has a fighting job on her hands. : Everyday she is winning a battle with menus and the budget. But for her there is no flag-waving and no bands. And in recognition of her heroism, all she gets from the family are moans—seldom a cheer. While we're heaping glory on the women who have gone into war work we might give a thought to the housewife who is doing her part at home. A woman that can keep on feeding her family, in the manner to which it has been accustemed, when food costs have risen almost a third, certainly deserves some kind of a medal. Right here in Indianapolis, food prices as a whole are 29.7 per cent higher than the average for: 1935 to 1939. But there is more than a skyrocketing in prices to cope with. There’s rationing of some products and shortages in a lot of others, too. ‘The housewife knows that her family is not going hungry. She’s been assured about that. But feeding you and keeping you satisfied are two different things. . Whether you know it or not, the woman of the house is tactfully doing a job of re-education in the

- “FUNNY BUSINESS

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family’s food tastes. She is havirg to prepare cuts of meat with wt ich the family is not familiar — ike hearts, kidneys and brains— nd make the family like them,

- Long Hours in’ Kitchen

It’s a harder job to do, too. Wea meal planning is revised and s ibstitutes are prepared, it gener lly means longer hours in the Kkitck en. She knows what's behind it: Transportation difficulties and lemands made on producers to fei the armed forces, thereby cutt nz

down the selection on the hon? front. : This briefly is the Situation :h: faces: BEVERAGES: The |housew if thanked her lucky stars when tl e rationed coffee. Before | that ; ha: had her share of complaints fr n: the family. But now, she lis assu: 2« of having the family’s share of 121c supply available. Tea is limited in quantity; so ac of it is higher in price. | Cocoa i: getting scarcer and although sf: drinks can be bought, mother ca 1" always keep that carton of col & on hand.

MEAT: No bacon for : broakts st

Well, it isn’t your wife’s fault. £ 1 may have gone to three or fc, stores trying to buy some. No ste ik for dinner, ete. etc. The government has limited t ie butchering of cattle to 70 per cc at and hogs to 85 per cent of tie

amounts butchered in the same quarters of 1941. The supply, as any housewife can tell you, is a long way from normal. There will be a new quarter starting Jan. 1 which means the situation may improve somewhat but the government is still asking us to voluntarily ration each person to 35 ounces of meat each ‘week, For some time that means quite a, cut. For those in the lower income brackets, who are living better, there is no pinch. But the fact remains that the selection of cuts is less and the housewife is having to use her ingenuity to provide | tasty substitutes. One of those is poultry. “But

| when a lot of other housewives get | the same idea, the supply even in

that line isn’t plentiful. There's some increase in price, too, which means the housewife has to do some juggling of budget figures to serve a fowl as the piece de resistance. Fish for Steak

Fish is another substitute for steak. (Which may not be so agreeable either with the family.) Tuna and salmon, the one.time favorites, are pretty hard to get. Many of the ocean boats have been requisi- | tioned as mine sweepers, insurance rates are up. Couple all that with the submarine and other war hazards and it is not hard to figure out that ocean

fishing has been curtailed. That]

‘means . that the ;whole couniry is depending on

curtailed by weather conditions. FATS AND OILS: Time was when this country was one of the big importers of oils. No longer are we getting. cocoanut oil from the Philippines and olive oil from

| Spain and Italy. From importers, | we've. become exporters to help out

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sur allies. We have lard and.-cer-tain vegetable oils. And the war has brought the soybean and the peanut into prominence. But those have to be shared. . We still have butter but war requirements and the usual winter slump in production has affected the supply. Many housewives are mixing butter with oleomargarine to “extend” it.

Lettuce Pricer Up /

VEGETABLES: Time was when the housewife paid 10 cents for a nice head of head lettuce. Today,

. she may pay as much as 22 cents.

they cant afford to buy, so that! |$ carrying only small

grocers ape

the Great Lakes| too fishermen and their work is often}’

housewife’s part to get a family in the mood for them. Potatoes are are plentiful but the price is up. CANNED GOODS: The armed forces are using a heavy percentage

of the canned goods. And, of course,

some local housewives have begun.

that well-known practice of hoard-

ing already. Some stores already héve signs up limiting the coasumer to one can at a time. FRUITS: Tried to get bananas lately? ‘If you found them, you probably ‘didn‘t buy ‘because they were so poor in quality. Bananas

formerly were shipped to us from

Central America. Now they come by rail from Mexico. This is the citrus season with oranges, grapefruit and a more plentiful than usual. But they, are up in price. Imported, frui like dates, figs, etc, are gettin scarcer and scarcer. there are apples on which the housewife can fall back on. They aren’t up much in price. FLOUR: There's plenty. DAIRY PRODUCTS: Whipping cream is out for the time being. There js cheese, but some cut in the. variety. : Yes, a housewife has to be some= thing. of a soldier and a diplomat combined these days. She has | fight stay within her budget, listen complaints and then ni talk too much about the price C this and the shortage in that un she spoils the whole famiiy's's petite. There are heroines in ki

Nd PLAN GIFT EXCHANGE Fidelity Review 140, Won Benefit association, will hold a ness meeting and Christmas gif change at 2:15 p. m. Wednesda; Castle Hall building, 230 E. Ohio Mrs. Hannah Hiatt is president.

stocks.

HOLD EVERYTHING

Of course