Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 March 1943 — Page 9
“THE TOMA FRONT. March 6 (By Wireless), ~—Late ‘one ‘afternoon I drove my jeep to the cactus : ‘contained . I had often ‘stayed there, -and felt like a member of the family. [Wt yeporting in or anything, I just picked out Rh a little open spot among the bushes, got out my shovel and started digging a hole to sink my pup tent into. I had the hole about four inches deep and only’ half long enough, when I heard a shout: J “Here they come.” Immediately all over the cactus ¢ patch guns started firing, Divef bombers had come out of the sun, .and were on us almost before we , . knew it. My hole in the sand was still not large enough to harbor 8 Than dvere as ith oe er But, I assure you, its inadequacy “did not deter ‘me from diving into it forthwith. : As giways in an air raid, T was torn between getting under cover and staying out to see what was going on. My policy seems to be the reverse of the ostrich—I stick my rear in the sand and leave my head. out, ‘thinking I'm safe.
It's Fast and Confusing
RIGHT NOW I want to say that anybody who can _ tell, after a dive bombing attack, just exactly what happened is a genius. It is all so fast and confusing. ~ Your senses seem to play hookey on you. After that “raid T could not tell you how many bombs dropped, How many planes took part, what kind they were,
‘whether any started smoking, or what direction they’
we it when they left. ey came down one at: a time, seemingly from ‘®verywhere. As soon as one finishes its dive, you Start looking for the next one. You lose sight of the one which just passed, and don’t know what happens Yo him. You see others in the sky in addition to the
Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nusshaum
H PROFILE OF THE WEEK: James DeMott Strickland, state director of the office of price ad- © sninistration, who still is amazed at his Cinderella“like rise from tire salesman to rationing czar for all . Indiana within a few, short months.
Jim Strickland is a tall, well built young. man who at 33 still looks the athlete he was at I. U. He’s 6 feet 2, weight 220, but probably will deny more than 200. He . has blue-gray eyes, and lots of ~ light brown hair that’s always well groomed. A very normal individual, he’s Lonscientious almost to a fault, has a nice, even disposition and an, abundance of vitality. Friendly by nature, he radiates cheerfulStrickland pegs, has an easy smile. "For five years or so he wore glasses. Then, a year
_ @go, an _oculist convinced him he could see better
without them. ; An inveterate practical joker, he's a pretty good customer of novelty stores. A couple of years ago, he h uite a time attaching those whistling torpedoes ts his iends’ cars.
Started in One-Man Job
A JIM WAS BORN at Owensville, worked his way through I. U. with odd jobs, won three letters in basketball, - accepted a scholarship- to: the National
Recreation school, New York. Then he went to work
for the Pennzoil Co... in New York, was transferred out here eight years ago as a special representative. Two years .ago he went with the ‘Indiana Tire & «. ‘Rubber Co. And then came tire rationing. Someone recom-
©. mended him for state tire rationer—a one-man and
secretary job—and by some “fluke” the never has understood, he got the job. ‘The job sort of grew.up
around him and when OPA came along, he was a has only an A gasoline book—and he’s actually down
. natural to head it. His force ‘which once occupied a cubbyhole'in the ‘Board of Trade has expanded until
‘Washington
WASHINGTON, March 6.—Behind the recent fombing in Europe is more than %n attempt to panic ‘he Germans. It is more than an attempt to smash the buildings along the Unter Den Linden, the Adlon hotel, the Bradenberg gate, the nearby chancellory and the foreign office. What we are trying to do is to check the production of submarines by bombing factories where engines and paris are manufactured, and to bomb the yards where the boats are built and the berths where they put in for overhaul. < The Nazis appear to be building submarines faster than we are sinking them. This is the only field of the war in which we are not gaining on the axis and it offers the Nazis their one hope, their .only hope, of ‘slowing down the allied war, aL It is. a race between the building of ships by us 5 gnd the Nazis attempt to sink them. Until last August #' we were definitely losing that race. But the miracle >of American shipbuilding has since then brought construction up above sinkings. On that margin, on the ount by which we can add ships beyond those Arian will depend how fast we can get on with the fr war. Sub Fleet's Size Increasing THE CHALLENGE LIES in the fact that the Ger- ; are steadily increasing the size of their submarine fleet. Also every tine We send a soldier abroad, ‘Wwe must set aside perhaps 10 ‘tons of shipping to supply him. Those are the facts that will whittle the oe i tons of shipping we expect to build this
. 2
rhe most immediate job we could do on the sub-
‘My Day
CHICAGO, i, Priday—Tn the course of the last few days I received a letter which interested me very much, For a long time I have watched the development at ‘oe in ‘hospitals and the of partially handicapped people. “" must.become independent and, at
‘peeling off from formation, and heading right down
. combat planes.
sunasing Would Se fo Euock wut the Atlantic ports om
‘They supervision of the veterans administration. The writili sie Sifoh, Hove the soemial. + often fram a much more severe mental disability than| | Moore, secretary, and
By Ernie Pyle] } ]
enero maki. lis dive. They seem to be going in} i all directions. The air is full of tracer bullets and| 1 black ack-ack puffs. - ‘You get these spots: ‘confused Ul
with planes.
Ela suse. than. aktually ste, bogihs falling og
around you-——and duck after you hear the explosion, which obvi would be too late. They. dive-bombed us twice that evening. Before
I got my ‘sand pit finished, men were killed Wwithin|
200 yards of me. Yet a bomb that far away isn’t even considered in your neighborhood. :
Indignant and Frustrated ONE OF THE MOST vivid remembrances I have of {the raid is of a flight of little birds roosting in the cac‘tus patch. The horrible melee and shooting scares the wits out of them. ‘They start flying hysterically in all directions. Time and again I duck instinctively from flying bomb fragments—only to realize later that it is the little silver birds, darting frantically back and forth. ; I went through another dive-bombing attack during the Sidi Bou Zid battle. I remember only two things during the few minutes they were over us, One was getting my breath in little short Jerks—almosty panting—though lying flat on my back, looking up at the planes, and not exerting myself in any way. The other was my feeling of jndigation and frustration that dozens of enemy planes could fly smack overhead, not more than 500 feet, with the sky around them absolutely’ speckled with tracer bullets: and not a single plane be brought ‘down, Our air corps contends that dive-bombing is relatively harmless and that, as soon as our troops det seasoned, we will be knocking them off so fast they will stop it. True, div-bombing does not kill as many people as you would think. But the great damage is psychological. The sound and sight of a dive bomber
at you, is one of the most nerve-shattering episodes of war.
now it takes most of the office space in Murat temple. Incidentally, the ornate offices in the: temple embarrass him. He frequently explains to visitors that the fixtures belong to the telnple—not to OPA.
He Loves Coffee
HIS GREATEST sorrow is the fact that under rationing he gets only a cup, or maybe a cup and a half, of coffee for breakfast. He's definitely a four or five-cup man. And the thought of meat rationing (which he will administer) frightens him, too. You see, his idea of good food is steak—and more steak. He also likes all sorts of sea foods. But he wouldn’t touch beets with a ‘10-foot pole. The first thing he does when he gets home is to get on a pair of old tweed trousers, an old jacket and a pair of moccasins. And then he reads with the radio on full blast. After dinner, while Jim Jr. 7; Jill, 6, and John, 2, are being put to bed, he likes to turn on the radio, lie down and sleep for an hour. He generally has only two suits, always wears snap brim hats, buys blue ties for himself but will wear gift | ‘ties of other colors. His suits are usually singlebreasted because he likes to sit with coat and vest unbuttoned. He's an inveterate pipe smoker.
Lets His Beard Grow
FOR VACATIONS, he likes to get as far away from civilization as possible, and then go fishing. If he doesn’t catch anything, he doesn’t mind. He likes to go without shaving while on an outing. Once, while in the Adirondacks; he raised a 17-day. beard. Jim despises pienics—can’t stand the bugs. - And mosquitoes always pick on him. He plays badminton, in the back yard at his home, 6165 Guilford ave., all summer; started golf a few years ago but didn’t get to swing a club last summer, plays a [mean game of handball at the I. A. C. and an equally wicked game of parchesi, ‘won’t play bridge and is lucky at poker. His proudest boast is that he used to be the tennis singles champion of Owensville. And although he’s the boss man of rationing, Jim
to his last coupon for this period.
By Raymond Clapper
the French coast, such as St. Nazaire, Lorient and Brest. If those Atlantic ports can be made unusable, and it is probable that we are doing that to some of them now, the German submarines would be driven back to North sea bases. That would force them to make a long and dangerous journey around the north of Scotland to get into the Atlantic, Harassing tactics are the chiet means of combating the submarine, Every means of interfering with building and operation of submarines is worth using. But the most immediate profit probably is in relentless bombing to knock out the Atlantic submarine bases. That calls for more planes. It calls for more fuel, all of which must be sent to England from this side. A heavy bomber will use 200 gallons of gasoline an hour. A fighter will use at least half that much.
We Can Concentrate Our Muscle
IT IS DIFFICULT to understand why there should be any further question about having enough planes. Undersecretary of War Patterson says we produced 5000 planes in January of which 65 per cent were In February production was even better. If we are turning out 3000 to 3500 combat planes a month, they ought to begin showing up in large numbers abroad. Up to now we have scattered our: planes cver many fronts. That had to be done in the beginning when we were on the defensive, and were trying to get something to block every rat hole. But we are calling the shots now and we can concentrate our muscle on the one .or two big blows we want to. deliver. The winning of the war everywhere is paced by the Atlantic struggle against the submarine, because shipping sunk in the: Atlantic means less shipping for the Pacific also. So, while we are waiting for more escort vessels to be built, the most helpful activity would be more air attacks against the Atlantic submarine lairs,
By Eleanor Rossel
comes from a member of the Veterans of Poreign Wars, contends, however, that support should be given to bill H. R. 801, which would keep vocational training for disabled veterans of this war under
er goes on to explain that disabled veterans will re‘quire different training in many cases, because they will suffer not from one disability alone, but very
were said’ to have: started simuls
Glenn Shoptaugh, Mrs.
‘|. Spanish lessons before that, how-
| Sm “Traoper: Deaths
LONBON Tn 6 (U. re
from | MANY, unable to keep her war fac-| tories fully mantied even with slave
labor from conquered countries, to-
day called up 17 and 18-year-old}
German girls for compulsory labor service. The official German DNB agency
said they would be placed in service|
“from the springs of 1943 onward.” They are to register between March 15 and April 10. The German marine command, also feeling the pinch of manpower,
simultaneously appealed for volun-|.
teers among youths in the 1925 class—those 17 and 18 years old. On the military front, a German war ministry spokesman was quoted by Radio London that the ftraining period of German recruits would be shortened because of the ‘“numerical superiority of the Russian forces.” Himmler Angry
Swedish sources reported only last week that the Germans were sending recruits to the Russian front after only six ‘weeks of training. A quarrel between Heinrich Himmler, chief of the German gestapo, and the German high command over the high proportion of deaths of storm troop leaders on the Russian front was alleged in the Lon-
don Daily Sketch gossip column,| 1“Inside Information.” Himmler was said to have asked :
Hitler to investigate the matter, contending that the high command was trying to hush up the manner in which some of the storm troopers were killed. Unrest was reported still plaguing the Germans throughout Joccupied Europe.
Conscripted Youth Revolt
The British ministry of information said advice from underground sources disclosed that Luxembourg youths conscripted by the Germans for military service recently revolted at the railroad station shortly before they were to leave for Germany.
“Machine guns were turned on]
them, resulting in a great loss of life,” the ministry said. - From France came. a report that a huge cold storage plant and other warehouses in Paris were set afire by saboteurs and severely damaged. Fires in. three of the warehouses
Saneously.
0CD GROUP PLANS CANNING SESSION
Arrangements for a general meeting to give instructions on canning of victory garden produce will be made by the Marion county OCD canning committee at a 1 p. m. meeting Monday in the Underwriters’ building. The general meeting, to be held some time in April, will be part of the committee’s work in giving information to interested women. Mrs. Thomas W. Ayton, newlyelected president of the Neophyte Garden .club, is chairman of the OCD canning committee. She will preside at Monday's session. Other members of the committee include Mrs. John Thrasher, Mrs. Robert H. Tyndall, Mrs. Edgar Renno, Mrs. George Wells, Mrs, Merritt Woolf, Mrs. Clarence Hughel, Mrs, Aneta B. Vogler, Miss Janice Berlin and Miss Louise Braxton,
Another Flight For Mrs. IEDR?
WASHINGTON, March’ 6 (U. P.).—Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt is starting a course of Spanish lessons and now the question is—is the first lady preparing for another Roosevelt jaunt abroad? “Mrs. Roosevelt walked into the Berlitz school of languages the other day and signed up for 200 hours of Later she arranged a conference with Vice President Henry A. Wallace, who is. quite a Spanish speaker and who is going to niake a tour of Latin America next month. Because of her interest in Latin America, it might be that Mrs. Roosevelt is considering going with the Wallace party to Latin America as a good will, visitor. She wouldn’$ have time for all her
ever, and » later tip seems more likely.
JAMES BATTEY HEADS
MARION COUNTY ‘BAR [Retains
The Marion Bar Association, Inc. elected James B. Battey president at a recent meeting at the Senate ave. Y. M. C. A. er Tier sists are Frankl: Benaugh, vice president: E. Janis}
Jacobs, treasurer.
| Memes vi 0 ast m3 cam | |T0
Registration “Begins Salm; %
82 2 =
Last of a Series
By DANIEL M. KIDNEY Times Staff Writer MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala., March 6.—Global war has brought to fruition here the great plans
the first world war to use the ‘waterpower of Muscle Shoals for making the nitrates needed then, as now, for high explosives. The great Wilson dam, started during: the other war, now provides the electric power (just as originally planned) for this and other purposes. A visitor can read in broke lettering the high hopes set forth for the Muscle Shoals development in 1918: “In peace, prosperity for the farmer—in war, preparedness for the nation.” The armistice brought an end to these aims, however. The great plant from which nitrates were to be “made from air” was abandoned, while the plant using the ammonium process was oiled, greased and kept under wraps by the army. . Bickering . began in congress over completion of ‘Wilson dam. It was not finished until 1825. Then came the great debates over selling the nitrate and power plants, three modern villages and other works to Henry Ford for $5,000,000. They had cost $90,000,000. Residents of such periy towns as Sheffield and Florence, Ala, anticipating Ford industrialization, bought lots: in subdivisions, and some: are still smarting because the deal fell through. Under the sponsorship of former Senator George Norris of Nebraska, and with full approval of President Roosevelt, the dam power plant, factories and villages were turned over to TVA when it was established by statute in 1933. or
Dream Comes True
NOW: TVA has made the 1¢18 dreams come f{rue. For, besides the great power development at Wilson dam, TVA established a huge phosphate fer-
s o 5
plants now is converted to turning out phosphorous ior smoke: screens ‘and incendiary bombs.
-
made by the war department in
tilizer works in one of the nitrate
it H
A new synthetic ammonia plant has been built, and other additions are making explosives which remsin military secrets. A highly concentrated phosphate fertilizer still is being manufactur¢d here and shipped to England, to increase food production there. Developed in the extensive TVA experimental laho_ratories, it has been a great saver of shipping space. Under: A. 14. Miller, head of the TVA chemical engineering clepartment, experiments for the best use of both power and the products of the valley are constantly carried on here. A sizable “pilot-plant” continues to prove that TVA has found a pr of extracting alumina (ba for aluminum) from ordinary clays, rather than ‘the compars tively limited bauxite. Some of the “left-over” from the phosphate plant still is used to fertilize nearby farms. But the great ¢farm-use” program, which was cleveloped in peacetime and reached almost every state, has had to be abandoned. Nevertheless, TVA enthusiasts feel that the phosphatic treat-
ment of these farms, some dn
every county. throughout the valley; now ‘is aiding farmers in reaching wartime food produetion goals. : ; » Enlarge Power Units WILSON dam has a giant power-house, with new units being added to step up the warpower production. In the vast fertilizer plant the . workmen weer great goggles as
they rake the lava flow from the -
electric-powerad arc-type openhearth - furnaces. . The heat is terrific and -no visitor can get: Rear these hell-pits. ~ Negroes ‘and white men all
Took like Arabs working in the .
‘plant, for - they wear towel-like turbans to keep their hair from being singed. . Great clouds of greenish-gray smoke comes from the stacks and the place smells no different from ~ a fertilizer plant which isn't government-owned, + It is refreshing to move over : to the new ammonia plant, where everything is as white and clean ‘as 'a ‘modern. bakery. High-
Workmen labor in the glare of the huge electric furnaces in the TVA chemiéal plant which, in peacetime, turned out concentrated fertilizers but now is devoted chicfly to munitions of war,
® a8
Wilson Dam Furnishes the Electric Power
For Making Nitrates... As Planned in 1918
pressure. cookers and the like are completely under electrical control, with chemists “teking the temperature” ‘ of whatever mixture is being brewed and peering at test tubes constantly to see if the combinations are correct. In the laboratories here, with field tests in surrounding neighborhood, TVA doctors developed their system of malaria control which has proven so satisfactory that army doctors now come here to study it, That, too, began as a civilian service.
” ” 2 Ail Synthetic Rubber EVEN SOME idle electric furnaces .came into war use and are turning out an important raw material for synthetic, rubber. Yes, TVA has gone to war in a big way here. But in this intense production of power and
powder, the research staff keeps.
an eye open for new things that can be done in the plants with the return of peace. Their ‘program is to develop a thing and, if they are not prepared to start production, lease the patents to private concerns under contracts which always make social ‘utility ‘a major factor, Mr. Wilson’ explained. “TVA .-is looking ahead,” he said. “It .appears that its warcreated plants can be used con-
~ structively in the post-war era,
much as its peacetime facilities can be operated as a force to raise the standard of living of the region and the nation. “This same opportunity of using war-created facilities for the general good will exist in countless places over the country. after this war. The opportunity. challenges the ingenuity snd resourcefulness of all to find ways to make this increased productive capacity to work in the pubHe interest... “Wise : application of our increased . industrial capacity will give us an opportunity to com-. pensate, at least in a small avay,
for the appalling waste and ex-
pense. of war. “As citizens we have a ‘solemn responsibility to win the war; to win the peace, and to assure ourselves that the tremendous productive capacity ‘created to serve our armed effort is conserved and directed to a useful and - beneficial end. »
PRO-AXIS PREMIER HEADS FINN CABINET
STOCKHOLM, March 6 (U.P).
net, with Prof. Edwin Linkomies, pro-axis ‘conservative, as premier, was announced in Helsinki yesterday. ‘Henrik Ramsay, who as Supply minister in the last cabinet often urged economic co-operation with Germany, was named foreign minister. He is expected to bring Firland into closer co-operation with Sweden, since he is a member. of
‘| the Swedish People’s party.
.Ramsay was believed here to Ye positively disposed toward a sepérate peace with Russia, ‘but it wes pointed out any such action would depend also on President Risto Ryti, as well as the Soviets. . The ‘other cabinet members, rep-
{resenting « every. party * except thie
nie os minister, Lehtonen; inter ior, Errenrooth; defense, Walden;
—Completion of Finland's new cabi-{
Wealthy Family Tries fo Prove
$27.14 Month Enough for Food|
HotLYWOOD) March 6 (U. P.) — The. wealthy William A. Pixleys were eating like paupers today in'an expensive hotel suite, hoping to show that California indigents can get their three squares daily and then some. It started when county officials asked for an increase in the state’s present monthly food allotments of $27.14 per couple. Mr. Pixley, who is director of the California Property
Owners’ association, figured the in-
crease would bocst taxes more than $250,000 yearly. The officials said the ‘raise? was demanded by rising. living costs. Mr. Pixley: decided a demonstration would prove ‘more effective than argument. Mrs. Pixley, who attends a cooking school, agreed, and today her husband, full of meat loaf, Was enthusiastic.
“I hope every nia hed as good a lunch as I did” he said. “If he didn't, it's his own darn fault.” - ' Mrs. Pixley was afraid she would gein weight on the diet. o> tlree days the Pixlers spent A typical day’s menu, Mr. Pixley said, would be something like this: Breakfast: Orange juice, coffee, coffee cake. Lunch: Sandwich and a glass of milk. Dinner: Meat loaf
in Califor~
park, and others at Pennsy gym and Lockefield gardens ‘community center. ‘About. 800 boys. are enrolled in the three groups. Higgs Stresses Prevention
' Comp. Higgs, who has been the spark plug of pals clubs here since their inception, is a ‘bit discouraged because some officials seem to have forgotten his work'in their discussions of santi-juvenile. delinquency
measures.
“There’s a lot of talk about what should be done to wipe out juvenile delinquency,” Corp. Higgs says. “But what I'm interested in is preventing it in the first’ place.” And the best preventive step, he believes, is a well-planned recreation program, designed to accom. modate all classes of teen-age youngsters whose “adolescent effervescence” might be channeled into worthwhile enterprises. Cites Drop in Crime =
He, Corp. Louis Mikesell of Pennsy gym and Corp. Alexander Posey of Lockefleld gardens have accom= plished this first step by arranging extensive athletic schedules, boys’ group discussions, handiwork classes, community ‘“get-togethers” and other events which naturally would attract youngsters from trou-hle-breeding streets and oorner “hang-outs.” As proof that his pals’ club at Rhodius has been successful in 'controlling delinquency there, Corp. Higgs has cited police statistics showing that the incidence of petty crimes and under-age offenses has decreased about 50 per cent in the neighborhood in the last three years. One of the more effective prac-. tices ‘carried ‘on ‘by the pals’ club. directors has been that of lecturing daily on some: pliase «of community: responsibility, ~~ : Lauded by Weddle
Recreation officials, compliment~ ing Corp. Higgs on his accomplishments, point out that he’s the type of police officer whom ordinarily flippant, youths worship rather than flaunt. One said that. ‘the corporal wea looked upon as a sort of “hero” at Rhodius park, and that as a consequence respect for the law among juveniles had grown by leaps and bounds. The same goes, he said, where other pals clubs had eens
organized. Lieut. ‘Charles E. Weddle, head of : the police department juvenile. aid
.
Satish vente Selinquincy, Here- :
the programs to to other sections of ; the city. : With juvenile crime. sky-rocket-ing, however, city: fathers are ously considering - assignment more police to pals’ club details. Good Leaders Scarce :
This co-ordination of the police {department with the city recreational facilitiés ‘is believed by some to be an imperative move in
or lamb stew, coffee, ‘apple dumpling grou
and coffee cakes.
“I couldn’t even eat my dumpling >
last night,” he added,
P. H. Lester, California Progres- |
sive official, wasn’t convinced by Mr. Pixley's success. He said he was
trying an identical program and}
would prove it ¢ouldn’t be done. “Tell Pixley to turn off his refrigerator,” he said. haven't even an ice- ox." :
SEE RECRUITS SOUGHT EE FOR NAVAL COLLEGES
| Warns Soldiers | ? Of Booby Traps
“Most indigents| { |