Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 December 1942 — Page 9

: oosier Vagabond

| ORAN, Kigeria—(By Wireless)—Mail has started toming to the troops again in enormous gobs, after a blank of more than two months. Lieut. Herbert Desgorges, a friend of mine from Gallup, N. M., got 20 letters from his wife the other day. Another friend, Lieut. Bill Wilson of Des Moines, got 30 personal letters in one day. They tell a story about one soldier who hadn't heard from his wife in three months, and finally was so disgusted he wrote her and told her he was going to’get a divorce, Then in one huge batch came 50 letters, covering the whole three months. So he’s had to cable her and take back the divorce threats, As for me, I have been the recipient of only two letters — one from ga girl in Pittsburgh wanting me to say héllo to her soldier sweetie, and one from a reader in Iowa telling me that eggs were plentiful and only 38 cents & dozen. I suppose my 50 family letters are at the bottom of somebody’s ocean.

Rumors Abound on Land, Too

OUR SOLDIERS are all over being seriously homesick now, but they do constantly think about home. Even a general said the other day “What I wouldn't give for 24 hours in New York. I'd just like to sée how it looks and hear what people are saying.” And as I travel about the camps the question I'm most frequently asked is, “What are the folks at home fhinking about?”’—never “What are the papers saying?” Unfortunately I don’t know any more about this than they do. In fact, even less, since the post. office department apparently gonsiders me unworthy to receive mail. All I know is what I read in the French

dictionary swears“it means chariot. So

|

32,000 ‘‘chars” in the past year. I assumed that a “char” was a chair or a charwoman, but French I can tell the boys at the camps is that there’s apparently some mighty funny business going on in America. Thirtytwo thousand chariots indeed! Rumors are almost as numerous here on land as they were aboard ship coming down. Today, for example, it was rumored all over fown that Tokyo had been bombed by 400 planes, that a thousand American planes were over Germany, that Deanna Durbin, Jack Dempsey and Bing Crosby had all kicked the bucket.

So Don’t Get Impatient!

NO, WE DON'T KNOW what you are thinking at home, but I hope you aren’t letting yourselves believe

‘'we’ll all be headed for New York by spring.

My powers of prediction are pretty feeble, but as I see things this neighborhood may not be very exciting for some little time. After the initial occupation there necessarily follows a period of getting established and building up immense stocks of men and supplies. We are in the ie of that period | over here. Only a very small portion of our Foe in North Africa are in action now. The remainder of the combat troops ar€ just waiting, and a huge organization of supply troops is busy day and. night back of the lines, as it will always be. We are, it seems to me, in another ‘period of waiting to strike, as Mr. Churchill says, when it suits us best and Hitler least. I have no idea when or where that will be, El Agheila looks on the map like an safternoon’s drive from Algeria, but actually it’s as far as from New York te Kansas City, So don’t get impatient if nothing much seems fo happen for a while.

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

PROFILE OF THE WEEK: Walker W. Winslow, wing commander of the Indiana Civil Air patrol, businessman, sports enthusiast, one of the state's best known fliers, and the new superintendent of muicipal airport. Walker Winslow (he keeps his midi ; dle name a deep, dark secret) is a pleasant, energetic individual who likes to be known as a “hale fellow, well met.” He can pat you on the back, and make you like it. He’s 54 years old, rather slender, weighs about 160, has thin, --iron gray hair, brown eyes and a deep, resonant voice that’s unforgettable. He also has a happy smile and an infectious laugh. He stands with his head hunched ll ; forward, walks with a slight limp Mr. Winslow as the result of one of his legs being: broken in. a tobogganing accident some years

He loves the water, knows as much about sailing a sloop as any lake skipper in Indiana. He formed the Maxinkuckee Yacht club in_1931, and in 11 seasons of racing has won several cabinets full of trophies. He has been judge at several Inland Lakes Yachting association regattas. His friends tell how he was caught out on the water in a catboat at Leland, Mich,, when a squall ‘came up. ~It“upset the boat. He stayed on the up-side, maneuvered the boat around facing the wind -and got it righted" without getting a drop of water on him.

Bridge Is His Favorite

HE HAS A MANIA for speed In sports—in flying, gailing, motorboating, tobogganing, and he sails ice boats “Nn great daring. He used to fly up to his cottage a. + Lake Mazxinkuckee for a week-end of ice boating. He likes to ski, rides horses like a born rancher, plays a fair game of golf and talks a better one; bowls with the Rotary league for an average of probably 165 or 170, and enjoys an occasional game of 1 or billiards at the Columbia club. le’d rather play bridge than most anything else, especially likes' duplicate. - ‘He's an excellent player, Washingto: WASHINGTON, Dec. 26.—There 1s ome place where we need practically none ‘of the holiday spirit from now on, and that is in congress. Around congress the name of Santa Claus, from here on ®out, ought to be mud. Congress has an open invita- ” tion from the majority of people, I suspect, “to be as rough as it will—=rough in laying heavier taxes, rough in knocking out some of the soft” cushions under ; labor, rough-in resisting the farm F _ lobbyists who are trying to break “away into inflatiomary prices, "rough in cutting dowh non-essen-tials everywhere, especially in the federal government, where money and manpower are being grossly wasted in perpetuation of useless agencies. Why not? It's a rough war. * Senator Taft is reviving his effort to get a sales. tax—say 10 per cent on all except food. There is no reason for not having a. sales tax now except that labor has been against it and the administration has not regeared itself to the changed eonditions that the war has brought.

Bigyest Untapped Source of Money

ONCE THERE were good arguments against a gales tax. But how it is the biggest untapped source of additional revenue. When we are spending many ‘times what Wwe are raising in taxes, you can’t defend the refusal to fap such a rich sourcé of income as "the sales tax. Economists cant find good reasons for opposing it now because it is a direct brake on inflationary consumer spending. It is deplorable for the administration to oppose a sales tax out of sheer tradition and it is equally deplorable to permit the new year to begin without having produced a pay-as-you-go method of collecting income taxes, Ce

i My. Day

IGTON, ‘Friday —I setutried yesterday oT a Ste hit Inte but in plenty of time to get over to Arlington, Va., for the children’s party given ‘there every year’ by the Kiwanis club. There were fewer Ghilaren thers this your which means that more people are at work and have money enough to provide Christ- . mas cheer for their own.‘The central union. mission, ~ which usually has a large children’s party, and the Volunteers of America, have also given up their annual parties. All of which, 2 I feel, is an encouraging sign. © The Salvation army, however, ‘.went on as usual. I imagine that ~among their. beneficiaries there : .are too many old people, of pea- = 3 ‘ple who are otherwise for work, so_they ‘have to 13g op the generosity 2 extra things at this season.

>

president snd 1 gested all the

glad that people will be able to

and plays with a small group that’s met more than a decade. His opponents say he talks all the time he’s playing, and tries to intimidate them.

Attended Manual

WALKER WINSLOW has lived here most of his life. Graduated from Manual in 1907, he left Purdue after two years to work in his father’s brick factory at Brazil, Ind.; became it’s president. He represented the Indiana defense council at the aviation repair depot at Speedway in 1917, helped establish the air school at Culver academy in 1920. For several years he was with the Chapman-Price Steel Co. in various capacities, from weightmaster to chief engineer, general manager of operations, purchasing agent and director. Later he had his own aviation company and from 1933 to 1941 operated the Capitol Realty Co. receivership. Since Pearl Harbor; he’s devoted most of his time to organizing the civil air patrol, with its 2200 licensed pilots and 700 planes. He loves seafood, especially stone crabs, likes to go out on a pier and open and eat oysters right the He won't eat meat loaf, calls it “predigested food,” but is fond of White Castle hamburgers,

Can Stand on His Hands

AMOS 'N ANDY are his favorites on the radio— he’s followed them for years. Lum and Abner are his second choice. He goes to the symphony under protest, doesn’t mind a movie if it’s especially good. He doesn’t like to dance, reads newspapers at the table, likes the Satevepost, wears conservative clothing, looks well in military uniforms, smokes .a lot of Old Golds and is fond of dogs. One of his favorite phrases is “basking in the sunshine of your glory.” He is a descendant of a Mayflower passenger, but pretends to: be ashamed of tHe distinction. He has an excellent sense of balance; sometimes amuses his friends by standing on his hands, without wavering. He’s quite a handyman, too; can fix most anything he tries. And he’s the envy of all his yachting friends because he can strike a match and light a cigaret, onehanded, while sailing a boat in a strong breeze,

By Raymond Clapper

Labor is in for a cleanup insofar as legislation can|

contribute toward that end. The fundamental blame is not on this administration. It is on the incompetent and shortsighted labor leaders who have continued racketeering practices and winked at unauthorized strikes in war plants, The movement to repeal {pe 40-hour week is a tricky one in that it is a concealed drive to cut wages by knocking out overtime over 40 hours. Work isn’t limited to 40 hours by law—only that over 40 hours time and a half must be paid. The labor department says that in, war plants the average work week in October was 45.7 hours and that the actual scheduled work week averaged 48 hours. Absenteeism and turnover pulled down the actual working average more than two hours below scheduled working hours.

‘Gimmies’ to Have Their Hands Out

AUTOMOBILE EXECUTIVES in Detroit, engaged exclusively in war work, told me a few weeks ago that 48 to 52 hours was the most efficient production working week, But the 40-hour law needs to be changed so that non-war plants, not in the gravy, can stretch out without the prohibitive overtime penalty. Labor unions can’t fairly expect to restrict work as usual when we are so short of manpower that there is talk of a general universal war service law to apply to all adults. You can’t have: DuTemiteTacy as usual, either. _ Yet farm organization lobbyists will meet here after. the new congress assembles to make their demands. . The labor crowd will be around making its demands. Peopie will be here protesting against the way the'tax laws hit them. Non-essential government agencies will be lobbying to keep their jobs. All of the gimmies in the whole country will be around here with their hands out. If I were congress; I'd go out and shoot Santa Claus on: the day after Christmas. - .. A.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

this particular holiday’ at home.’ T am sure that there are mafly homies that are sad also because the war has made this rule a necessity. -

At 2 o'clock, x went to the usual ceremonies held|

Yulia House Jor the familes of thos aifestied there in full swing when I returned. The president greeted them and:all the little Children received their custo-

mary gifts. : A 4 alk, the ceremaries which ark usualy ear ried on when the community Christmas tree took place, but without lighting the tree this However, the carols went out over

By Ernie Pyle|

newspapers, such as an item about America~building|

is 1t, -year. | 2 ug radio, and Iam

munition is being passed up.

Parker, my wife’s pen.

No use taking time to change packet and peel off the tape

and my mouth is cottony. cordite. I take off my tin “hat. This anti-flash hood is like putting your head} in

an oven. A young sailor, akout 18, is standing there wide-eyed. I grin at him. “They're sure giving us hell, aren’t they?” I ,. ask him, He grins back.

A few of the sailors are blow= ing up their lifebelts, I note. I wonder why but only for an instant and forget . about it. My lifebels is ~ Cecil Brown stuck up in a small shelf in the roof of the flag deck, too awkward to wear. I feel bulky enough with the cover-alls over the bushjacket, the camera around my neck, notebook in my left hand and fountain pen in othe right hand. 12:19—I see 10 bombers apeproaching. It’s impossible to tell whether this will be a high-level or a torpedo attack. . They come closer, lower. It's definitely a torpedo attack.

1220—The communication pipes. again, “Stand by for barrage!”

CAPITAL WAITS NEXT UMW MOVE

Two Agencies Looking for Opening to Move in On John Lewis.

By FRED W. PERKINS Tithes Special Writer WASHINGTON, Dec. 26.—At ‘least two government ‘agencies “watch warily for an opening to move in on John L. Lewis and end the present : deadlock over whether the United Mine Workers will work six

"instead of five days a week in pro-

duction of coal for war purposes. ' One agency is the national war labor board, which has been asked by bituminous coal operators to decide the only question remaining between them and the miners’ union—whether if 4 six-day week is ordered the miners shall have individual - privileges of - working .or not, as they please and without penalties, on the sixth day.

Interior Secretary Harold L.: Ickes, who also is the federal coordinator of solid fuels and who two months ago put up to Mr. Lewis and the operators: the need for more coal production, ' and asked «them = to reach an agreement on lengthening the present contract 35-hour work

WLB Bides Time

The war, labor board, “according to information today, is reluctant to move into the situation, although it thinks it has the authority. Mr. Ickes has been asked to make a

the coal industry and miners to meet his official request, but so far has not done so. . A little more than a year ago Mr. Lewis was in conflict with President Roosevelt over a series of strikes in ‘the captive coal mines.

The. other agency is the office of|

public statement on the failure of}:

‘Today, according to the operators,

XVIll—'God Be With You!’

12.14—Now all the bombers are gone. Capt. Tennant has just orderéd this message flashed to Admiral Tom Phillips on the Wales up ahead: “We have dodged 19 torpedoes thus far, thanks to Providence.” Those who are able light cigarets. The decks are littered with the debris of battle. dead men around the guns, and wounded, too. More am-

‘There are a number of

Everyone around the guns

is soaked in sweat, with blackened faces. 1 glance at the notes in this diary. Hastily wiitten. And I've twisted the point of my fountain pen, a green I check the pack film jn the Plaubel Makina suspended by a strap around my neck. There are four pictures left in the pack, enough, I think.

the pack. I rip open another around the metal container,

to be ready for a quick change. My ears ache atrociously The whole place stinks with

and hell breaks loose. A plane is diving straight for the middle of the ship off the port side, 500 yards away, and tracers are rushing to meet it, but it comes on. Now it seems suspended in the air 100 yards above the water, and the torpedo drops. It is streaking for us. There is a deadly fascination in watching it. The watcher shouts, “Stand by for torpedo.” The torpedo strikes the ship about 20 yards astern of my position. It feels as though fhe ship has crashed into dock. I am threwn four feet across the deck but I keep my feet. Almost immediately, it seems, the ship lists. The command roars out of the - loud speaker: “Blow up your lifebelts!” I take down mine from the shelf. It is a blue-serge affair with a rubber bladder inside. I tie one :of the cords around my ° waist and start to bring another cord up around the/neck. Just as I start to tie it the command comes: “All possible men to starboard.” But a Japanese plane invalidates that command. Instantly there’s. another crash to starboard. Incredibly quickly, the Repulse is listing to port, and I havent started to blow up my lifebelt. I finish tying the cord around my neck. My camera I hang outside the airless lifebelt. Galla-

eno By NOBLE REED Unless more Indianapolis married couples begin observing .their wedding vows to love, honor and obey “until death do as part,” the divorce rate in Marion county is in danger of catching up with the number of marriages. Records in the county clerk’s office revealed today that two divorce suits were iiled here this year for every four marriage licenses issued last year.

That is a marked increase in divorce ratio to marriages over the depression years when, according to records, it was only one divorce in every four or five marriages. A: total of 3385. couples went to the divorce courts to ait their troubles this year, not counting the scores of ather couples: who separated but didn’t file legal proceedings forefinal divorce. Last year 6234 couples were sssuet

.- Prepare to abandon ship.” T*

increase \after the war when s | hundreds of marriages, made at

The command roars or: of lifejackets -« . . abandon shi: . , shows lifeboat inspection abo: rj a

SECOND SECTION

the loudspeaker: _ “Blow up your + God be with you.” Photo above merchant ship in a British convoy,

_

gher already has his belt on 3 is puffing into the rubber tub: io inflate it. The effort makes lis strong, fair face redder (un usual The ship is heeled over :: a nasty angle. Gallagher ss: “You all right, Cec?” »

» s ”

‘This Is It, Cec’

“YEH, I guess so. No aii n my belt though. The hell with it,” “Better blow it. This is it, C=.” “Yes, Gal. I guess itis. Goud going, kid.” ; “We'll stick together.” “We grin at each other, a vw: grin. Capt. Tennant’s - voice is con ing over the ship’s loudspeak: . a ie

k

cool voice: “All hands on ¢ c«.

n ty

is a pause for just an inst. then: “God be with you.”

There ‘is no alarm, no confusion, no panic. We on the flag deck move toward a companionway leading to the ‘quarter dezk. Abrahams, the admiralty photographer, Gallagher and I are together, ‘The coolness of everyone is incredible. There is no pushing, but no. pausing either. youngster seems in a great hurry.

He tries to edge his way into the

line at the top of the companionway to get down faster to the quarter deck.

A young sub-lieutenant taps him on the shoulder and says quietly: “Now, now, we are all going the same way, 100.” The youngster immediately gets hold of himself. We move swiftly down the 15foot companionway to the quarter deck. Abrahams is carrying his expensive ‘-camera like a baby, cradled in his arms. He goes over to a wooden lifebelt locker,

Indianapolis Divorce Recorc Rivals

Output as Year Nears Close

marriage licenses, not quite vce the number of divorce suits file: ,

Of the 3300 divorces, between 00 and 2000 of them involved bres ig up the homes of children unde 13 years of age. The six county courts hanc domestic cases here mill out :n average of 270 to 300 divorce = month, an average of about 75 e ey week. / Some courts have run throug! is many as 60 divorces in one lay, rivaling the biggest day the E-i.o divorce courts ever had. Because of war dislocations, so workers, who struggle every with the problems left in the wv of wrecked homes to rehabili “orphaned children, hold lttle 11> that the divorce rate will dec: in the next few years. In fact, they are predicting

ing

EY y le ie

n

an re

height of romantic patriofi n,

50 Club Planning

New Year's Fete

" The Fifty club will hold ifs annual New Year’s Eve party, cabaret style, at the Knights of Columbus hall. F. W. Spooner, president, is chairman. “He will be assisted by Wendell V. DeWitt, Dr. C. E. Morgan, Elmer Singer, Timothy P. Sexton, John J. Minta, Paul E. Just, Edward Schneider, Dr.. Carl Kernel, Robert Minta,’ Dr. Paul Kernel, Robert E. Kirby, Chester P. Ehrich, Frank P. Huse, | Billy Grimes. and Courtland C. Cohee.

REPORT JAPS BUIL! TWO NEW AIRFIEL! 5

CHUNGKING, Dec. 24. (Delay: d . (U. P.) —A Chinese military spo man reported today that Japanese had constructed two : irfields, each 1900.yards long, in up = Burma where they could be ued as bases for planes attacking eit er India or China. One wis located at Indaw, etween Mandalay and Myitkyina, bh: other at Hopin, southwest of Myi k -

28 -

+a “nS

© gamut of human weaknesses.

crumple under the stress-of postwar readjustments in domestic life, “The soldier who was so glamorous on the wedding day before he left for the wars may not appear as such to the bride when he comes home to the colorless work-a-day world after the was is over,” one social worker declared. Already juvenile court probation workers say the problems of domestic life are increasing alarmingly under the stress of war dislocations, indicating even a greater upset than the “jazz age” of the postwar twenties, Complaints made by the hundreds of unhappy -mates in -the divorce courts here run the entire

on economic differences, non-sup-port or extravagances and of course the “eternal triangles” ‘enter into Piany of them somewhere along the line,

Lass, Army Chief Swap Greetings

CAIRO, Dec. 26 (U. P) ~~ Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery said today that the nicest Christmas greeting he ever received was signed by “a Yorkshire lass with a lad in the eighth army.” : The girl wrote: “I wish you and our lads a very happy Christmas, good health, luck and by the grace of God, victory in 1943. Keep ’em on the run, Monty.” . ‘The British commander replied that “we'll do our best to keep ‘em

i es 7

on. the run. Good luck to you!

“7 In the words of Tiny Tim; God

- bless -us all.’ ”-

Z 722 5

LYNDHURST MASONS INSTALL TONIGHT

New officers of the Masonic Lyndhurst Lodge 723 will be installed in avclosed ‘mesting at the lodge “at 7:30 p. m. today. : The new officers are : Leslie. E. Cadwell, worshipful master; Ulice Martin, senior warden; Raymond Hunt, junior warden; John IL. Carrington, treasurer; John: L. Dean, Secretary; Maurice Beasley, senior deacon; Roy Bly, junior deacon: Cecil - C. Barker, chaplains Church, senior steward; Coonce, junior steward; Sam Bennett, tyler, and Edwin Ristow, trustee. Installing officers will be Herschel Ginn: and Jesse B. Mays. ‘Cecil

Parker is the retiring Worshiptat |.

master, PENSION RALLY TOMORROW

3. J. Brown wil be the principal

speaker at a mass ‘meeting Marion ;

.' someone shouts:

One

John " Charles

‘about three feet long, carefully

opens: the lid, gently places his camera inside, and: carefully closes the lid. x - Beside a pom-pom two men are dead, stretched in grotesque positions of violently won There is blood all aroun this gun, hot and silent, its base littered with used and Hever-fAred) ammunition, Bog.

Abandon “Lifeboat

I SEE four sailors carrying Lieut. Page up the slanting deck of the ship toward the edge. He had been brought up on, deck when the action with the Japanese was joined. He still couldn’t walk. Two lifebelts were wrapped around him “in case anything happened.” Now he is being lifted to the edge of the ship. The four men heaved, and Page went sailing overboard, so he would have a chance for rescue. Gallagher and Abrahams seem to

‘ have disappeared.

I see a lifeboat jammed with seamen and -a half dozen officers, still on its davits, still not swung - out. The only: way to reach that boat is by a cable. I jump for it and go hand over hand about 10 feet, dangling like a monkey by its tail. As I am swinging’ through space, the yellow filter from the lens of my camera falls off and I watch it go crashing to the deck 15 feet below. | “There goes that filter that cost me three dollars and a half jfist" a few months ago in Cairo.” I swing myself into a tiny, precarious corner of the lifeboat, first my feet then using my arms as levers on the cable to get all of me inside. I just settle there when “This boat will never get off!” We all pile. out, streaming over the side of the lifeboat, back onto the deck of the Repulse. I drop , 10 feet, hit the slanting, slippery deck, slide about eight feet snd crash into a bulkhead. I am dizzy when I pick myself up. Then I fall back on my hands and knees and scramble up the side of the deck, grabbing cables and deck: protuberances to reach the edge of the ship.

NEXT—Last minutes aboard the sinking Repulse, as men drop and leap into the sea.

‘House,

10S right, 1943, by. 7 nom: Nbr ri y Dhiced Feature Byne

ibuted by Seater ne) c:)

HINT MOVING OF |

ITALIAN PLANTS

Russians ~ Say Goering Asked to Evacuate Fac-

tories to Austria.

MOSCOW, Dec. 26 (U. P.).—Tass, official Russian agency, in-a&' Stock holm dispatch said today. that “competent circles” there believed Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering’s main interest in the recent meeting

of top axis leaders at Adolf Hitler's headquarters was to discuss a Ger=man plan to “save” Italian industry by evacuating it to former Czecho=

-islovakia and Austria. The majority of them are based]

Tass said Goering was more interested in removing what re of Italian industry after the hea allied ir attacks than in providing Italy with more air support from the luftwaffe and its ground defense organization. ’ The conference, held last Friday and Saturday, was attended by Hitler, Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, Field Marshal Wil= helm Keitel and Goering on the German side, and by Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian foreign minister, and. Marshal Ugo Cavallero, Italian chief of staff, representing Ifaly. Pierre Laval, French puppet chief of gov: ernment, was called in later.

- Italy’s Plea Refused

Stockholm circles believed that the conference was called as the result of axis military reverses and Africa, Tass said. = Neutral observers, Tass said, lieved that Hitler previously refused Italy's request for military aid in. the Med : and instead had demanded g support from Italy on the Ru front. “This was the reason for solini’s decision not to take pers part in the negotiations,” '

HOLD EVERYTHING