Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 May 1943 — Page 9

WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1943

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e Indianapolis Times

SECOND SECTION

Hoosier Vagabond

1 (Continued from Page One) as they sald—"sweating it out with us at Faid pass ail winter.” As I drove back from the lines, Americans in the rear would stare, startled-like and belligerent; then, seeing an American at the wheel they would laugh and wave. I have owned half a dozen autos in my life, but I've never been so proud of one as of my clattering little volkswagen. On that first day of surrender the . Germans sat in groups of hundreds in the fields, just waiting. They lay on their overcoats, resting. They took off their shirts to sun themselves. They took off their shoes to rest their feet. They were a tired army but not a nondescript one. All were extremely well equipped. Their uniforms weré good. They had plenty in the way of little personal things, money, cigarets and food. Their equipment was of the best materials. One English-appearing soldier had a gem nailclipper. He said he paid 25 cents for it in New York Adn 1939. Some were cleanly shaven, some had three or fourdav beards, just like our soldiers. Lots of them had red-rimmed eves from lack of sleep. = » =

Germans Well Fed AS A WHOLE, thev seemed younger than our men, and I was surprised that on the average they «didn’t seem as big. But they did appear well fed and in excellent health.

They think Americans are fine fighters. They

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

IF LOOKS WOULD kill, some thousands of motorists. including a lot of taxi drivers, would have drawn their last breaths yesterday. They're the ones that blithely raced past street intersections, splashing

buckets of muddy water on hapless pedestrians. When they get out of their cars and become pedestrians, these same drivers become just as indignant as anyone else when they get splashed. And they mutter the same imprecations at passing motorists. . . . Birthday congratulations are in order at Phil Efrovmson’'s department store at 918 S. Meridian st. It was just 70 vears ago that Mr. Efrovmson’s father started the store on its present site, and it's been there all those years. Mr. Efroymson was born next door to the store and has lived in the neighborhood all his life . Don’t miss the film, Ravaged Earth.” which opens tomorrow at the Murat for four nights, It isn't pleasant, but it will give you an idea of why we just have to win this war.

Fish Stories

PAUL ROBERTSON, safety board member, and Frank Wallacd, the state entomologist, are heading up to the Lake of the Woods, Wis, next week, for a J Joust with the wall-eyed pike. The safety board meeting yesterday was enlivened by arguing between Mp. Robertson and board chairman Will Remy over which is the best fisherman. . Overheard as a woman spectator viewed one.of the pictures in the Indiana artists’ exhibit at the art institute: “Everyv= where I go I see that man’s work. And it always looks like a picture on a calendar. That one looks as if he r had done it with a needle and thread.” . A young woman worked half a day at the Grain Dealers National Mutual Fire Insurance Co. offices yesterday before it was learned she hadn't been hired. She went there looking for a job and a supervisor to whom she was referred thought she had been hired, and just

Sweden

STOCKHOLM, May 12. —There have been no big strikes here for years, so many people here find it hard to understand why in the United States the president in the midst of war must take to the radio to stop a coal strike. Quite a number have asked me if enemy propaganda was behind the coal strike, as that is the only way people here think so much trouble could be caused. The labor movement is highly organized in Sweden, and so are employers. I had a unique experience with other American newspaper correspondents attending a dinner here given jointly by the General Federation of Swedish Trade Unions and the Swedish Employers Federation. It was as if Lewis, Green and Murray. and officials of the Chamber of Commerce and National Manufacturers association gave a party together. They were all skoaling each other during the dinner. Afterward the meeting was thrown open to us to ask questions. These were batted around the table by both sides, sometimes arguing, sometimes “agreeing, but always friendly and relaxed in the manner of people who understood each other and who were doing business with each other on mutually satisfactory terms. »

Labor, Industry Agree

I SAT between an iron ore man and a textile man, Jhoth large employers. The iron ore producer said ho industrialist in Sweden would wish to return to individual agreements, that collective bargaining works very. well. that labor leaders are well chosen, balanced men. The textile manufacturer agreed. One industrialist, who before the war did considerable business in the United States. said he was astonished at ‘the opposition to coliective bargaining he used to find in America. I think the attitude of employers here has been a

My Day

WASHINGTON, Tuesday.—Last evening Mr. Thomas Whittemore came with Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wood Bliss, to show us a film depicting the results of the work he has been doing on the Church of St. Sophia, in Turkey. The Mosaics are the most beautiful color I have ever seen. One marvels at the patience and the beauty which were created SO many years ago. At my press conference yesterday morning, representatives from the department of agriculture came to talk about the mobilization of women for work on farms. Miss Florence Hall, from the extension service, has been appointed head of the work. She brought Miss Margaret Smith to model the work clothes, which are not obli-

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By Ernie Pyle

express only good-natured contempt for their allies, the Italians. As one of them said: “It isn't just that Italians don't fight well. It's simply that Germans don’t like Italians very much in the first place. Wherever any American correspondents stopped, prisoners immediately gathered around. They all seemed in good spirits. Even those who couldn't speak a word of English would try hard to tell you something. The main impression I got, seeing German prisoners, was that they were human like anybody else, fundamentally friendly, a little vain. Certainly they are not supermen. Whenever a group of them would form, some American soldier would pop up with a camera to get a souvenir picture. ; And every time all the prisoners in the vicinity would crowd into the picture like kids. Ld = »

Yanks’ Morale Bounds Up

ONE GERMAN boy had found a broken armchair leaning against a barn, and was sitting in it. When I passed he grinned, pointed to his feet and then to the chair arms, and put back his head in the international sign language for “Boy, does this chair feel good!” This colossal German surrender has done more for American morale here than anything that could possibly have happened. Winning in battle is like winning at poker or catching lots of fish—it's damned pleasant and it sets a man up. As a result the hundreds of thousands of Americans in North Africa now are happy men, laughing and working with new spirits that bubble.

assigned her to a desk. In the afternoon, the supervisor and office manager got to exchanging notes and found neither had hired the girl. They quickly remedied the error, and now the girl's a regular employee.

Sun-Bathing Season

OLD MAN WEATHER has put a crimp in sunbathing activities at the I. A. C. Last year, 52 members started soaking up the sun on the club’s roof in April. In April this year, only four club members were hardy enough to brave the frigid breezes. Good sun-bathing days have been mighty scarce this month, too. But that hasn't scared out everyone. Recent patrons have included Ward Fenstermaker, Jack Carroll, Herbert King, J. Frank Holmes (one of the old faithfuls), Henry Calloway, T. B. Rogers and Charles Stevens. . . . Capt. Tom Ireland, author of “Ireland, Past and Present,” made & hit with the members of the Woman's Press club of Indiana when he spoke at the club's May party yesterday at the Columbia club. Two or three times during the luncheon, he asked the chairman, Mrs. John Kleinhenz, to name the members present. Then, when he arose to speak, he called each of the 24 women present by their last names. It wowed them.

Just Imagining

HENRY OSTROM, the Republican county chairman, is recovering from a severe case of strep throat. Henry, who doesn’t drink, says he was given so much sulfa drug that he feels like a drunk must feel while he’s sobering up. . . . Jinmy Bradford, Henry's predecessor as chairman, has had his private phone number changed recently. . . . Several readers have inquired aboyt certain military uniforms seen on the streets recently. The uniforms resemble army uniforms but have bright red shoulder straps. After much checking around, we found the wearers are members of Walker Winslow's civil air patrol. . . . The operator of an E. Washington streetcar kept his crowded passengers in a good humor with his banter Monday evening. At Meridian st.. he sang out: "Standing room only, folks. Seven cents.” At Pennsylvania: “Balcony seats only. That's all that's left.”

By Raymond Clapper

large factor in peaceable labor relations. But even more important at present is the co-operative atti-

tude of labor leaders, for they are making real sacrifices to keep from rocking the boat. Labor leaders here are far more powerful than John Lewis ever was. They have the power he always dreamed of. They control the Social Democratic party, which is in power now and has been for some years. But there have been no wartime strikes, although there has been considerable employment dislocation. There is a labor shortage in some fields.

Government Keeps Hands Of

BUT TO prevent repetition of the disastrous inflation of the first war, the Swedish Trade Union Federation took the lead immediately alter this war began to check inflationary rises. For the last 18 months there has been an agreement by labor and employer organizations banning wage increases. Periodic adjustments are made to meet any rise in the cost of living index. At first labor got 75 per cent of the rise, but later accepted less favorable arrangements. Now labor obtains only a 50 per cent adjustment for a rise in the cost of living index. Labor could tie up industry, as there is no antistrike legislation—only voluntary agreement by both sides. Labor's policy has been to keep the government out of labor's arrangements with employers. agreements cover 84 per cent of the workers in the ore industries, 30 per cent of the stone quarry indus-

tries, 70 per cent of wood industries, ©@ per cent in|;

paper and printing. 8 per cent in food, textiles, and chemicals, and 97 per cent in leather. That must make the mouths of American labor leaders water,

I suspect labor is so powerful in the show here}!

because it has not abused its great power. Yet long

ago it was a hard fight to get the present status, as!§ electric utility executive and now |} president of the International Chamber of Commerce, |i

Sigfried Edstrom,

told our dinner party.

By Eleanor Roosevelt |

under social security and receive sickness insurance, | 5

pension and unemployment benefits.

We are dividing our program into full time, year- |i | The seasonal |:

round workers and seasonal workers. workers have to agree to do one month's work, and

there is a requirement that the women must be at |;

least 18 years old. No ceiling on age has been set,

so this may be a field in which some women over jy

45 may find useful employment. Women sre being asked if they will not only perform the work for which they have been especially

trained, but if they will help out in the house, for |®

Rail Heyday Comes Back to Indianapolis

More luggage and smaller tips is the glum fate of Union station red caps, now carrying double loads as the result of increased war traffic and diminished staffs. Kenneth Crawford is one of 30 bagtoters whose added duties are elbowing through tightly-packed throngs, finding seats for befuddled war travelers, supplying information ranging from the price of an upper to Sandusky to whereabouts of the

nearest tavern,

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Terminal Is Busiest Since Lush Travel

Period

of Early 20's

By SHERLEY UHL Indianapolis has come back into its own as a key rail transportation center with Union station doing its biggest business since the heyday of the traveling salesman and tourist trade in the early 20s. Not since the lush era before busses and automobiles cut a sizable swath in rail passenger revenue have so many

people stamped through the train gates to the tune of “all-aboard.” Station veterans here

agree that today’s boom has never been surpassed. Troop movements, war workers and curtailed auto traffic are factors combining to cram the city's “melting pot’ at any time of day; but on week-ends beginning at around 4:30 p. m. on Fridays the crowd reaches overflow proportions, milling impatiently around the timeboard and streaming out in long queues from half-a-dozen ticket windows. = 8 »

Never Closes

The station never closes, but if you should drop in between 2:30 and 4 a. m, you'd find the huge terminal at its emptiest, its silence punctuated by telegraphic tickings, the swish of the jenitor’s mop and the gentle snores of overnight bench-sleepers. There's never an hour, however, when trains aren't roaring in overhead. In addition to troop trains, about 150 iron horses steam in and out of the station every 24 hours, most of them through expresses and limiteds. The day of the local is over. Although soldier travel constitutes the biggest transportation pick-up, station attendants are “pestered” most with the excessive

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Civilians, not are the chronic

civilian clientele. soldiers, usually gripers, they say. ” ” »

Many Are Amateurs

War has spawned an army of amateur travelers, many of whom have never been on a train before. Their foibles, say the station men, create a minor transportation bottleneck. These novices frequently climb aboard wrong trains, exhibit a curious tendency to purchase wrong tickets, habitually lose their luggage and ask superfluous questions like, “Do they serve cocktails aboard the Jacksonian?” One ticket-agent commented: A lot of these newcomers think they're starting on a great and glorious adventure when they buy a hundred mile ticket. They want twice as much service as the average soldier or businessman, then complain because they don't get it fast enough.” ” ” ”

Information Experts

Next to troop movements the biggest boom is in service families who travel by the thousands each day in and out of Indianapolis to visit relatives in military reservations. Keeping these over - anxious hordes informed on the best and shortest routes to mushrooming

“No rest for the weary”

is the plaint of station ticket sellers. p. m,, sometimes string from one side of the station to the other.

SERRE

Longest queues from between 5 and 10 Bane of ticket men is the ‘griping”

civilian who waits until two minutes before departure time to buy passage on several different roads to

the West Coast. *

Crowds storm the gates an hour before the “all-aboard.”

Early birds get seats, but stragglers usually

have to stand or are left behind. This passenger-jam is waiting to board the crack “James Whitcomb

Riley” for Cincinnati.

That bustling man in uniform is Arthur Worley, veteran train-caller whose voice

has awakened adventurous longings in the heart of many a station “hanger-on.,”

army camps, many of them con-

One rule stands supreme among

structed before train schedules i station.employees.. Wahab’ * ‘service

can be revised, is in the brainwracking task of the station information experts. Information is the most sought-after commodity in the depot. For 20 hours a day four or five men are detailed to information duty and help, generally, in the ticket sales office has been quadrupled. These men display brave patience, don’t tear their hair and gnash their teeth, but dig in and find the right answer, even if it entails looking up the lay-over time at Flomaton, Ala. ” o on

Soldiers Stranded

But several weeks ago, said Chief Ticket Agent D. E. Norwalt,

a group of soldiers under army escort were left floundering here when no amount of time-table probing could locate an army camp in Florida which, station officials avowed, must have been prefabricated and thrown up overnight. Information experts often are asked to map complete itineraries for service men, and that means figuring to-the-minute train connections allowing the men to utilize their furlough time to the maximum. Much of the work is done over the phone.

men’ first.” If anyone is turned away from overcrowded trains it's civilians. Soldiers likewise have priorities on pullman and dining car accommodations. “8 8

USO Has Quarters

Then too, the United Service Organization has elaborate headquarters in the rear of the station where service men are served free doughnuts and coffee, provided cots for overnight stop-overs and entertained through various recreation facilities. Many service men have benefitted by the augmented staff of the Travelers Aid Society. They assisted 4979 travelers in March of this year, as against 1522 aided in March, 1942. Those who fail to make connections often spend entire days and nights in the station, reading, eating, gaping at the crowds and sleeping, a detective assigned there said. - There's been a considerable increase in station bench-warming, an exigency which is permissible if the occupant can show possession of a railroad ticket. » a ”

Another 'thrill-packed story of the huge terminal—but one that

won't be told for the duration is that havig for its main characters those! Ag FBI menswho are on hand ready to intercept suspects mingling with the poly=glot traveling throng. The greatest climb of the pas senger travel graph occured just after Pearl Harbor, rail statisticians report. Since then the upward trend has been steady. The station restaurant business furnishes a good criterion of the prosperous passenger traffic outlook. Irving Fendrich, the proprietor, says his business so far this year has increased 77 per cent over last year’s figure. He estimates that more than 50,000 persons eat in the terminal lunchroom each month. There's a gloomy side of the picture: although responsibilities of red caps have multiplied, travelers aren't tipping as well as they used to. Red Cap Captain Robert Gilliam, a veteran of 40 years at luggage-toting, believes the shrinkage is due to a severe drop in “luxury travel.” Most passengers these days aren't vacationing, he says, and none are on a world cruise—unless it happens to be an all-expense tour conducted by the armed forces.

New Aleutian Bases Fit Into U.

Collective | sims

many regular farm women feel that they are better |&

equipped to work in the fields than some of the people who are trained for a short time. If they could be relieved of housework, they could do a great deal more out of doors. Connecticut is running an all-year-round., two weeks course for would-be farm workers, and I! imagine every state will gradually do something simi-

Silhouetted against the sea and sky, two servicemen stand on the snow-covered ground of Amchitka, just beyond an encampment where Americans have pitched their tents. The island, one of the Aleutians, was recently occupied by a joint U. S. army-navy expeditionary force. Only 63 miles from Kiska, it serves as a base for Jap-bombing Amer-

ican planes.

there,

before they could colle¢t their “grub.”

S. Strategy for Offensive Action

Flanders had nothing on Amchitka, so far as mud is concernéd. These Yanks, heading for the chow tent in the background, have to wade knee-deep in the slushy stuff Fast-melting snow on the newly occupied Aleutian island doesn’t make Amchitka a very comiortable place for U. 8S. troops stationed

By Science Service Amchitka is particularly so. Adak dimeult, Both islands are treeless and. bar WASHINGTON, May 12. — Am- is a part-way station between Am-|permit bringing supplies by boat. Attu. ren. Amchitka is so chitka and Adak, two of the Aleu- | chitka and Dutch harbor, where| Amchitka is a sort of half-way| The two latter American islands, |, df Ww we: 15 miles tian stepping-stones on the Todd | Mmuhjtions and equipment may be station between the North American | now occupied by probably some 10,- ong. ve wide. It has about from America to Tokyo, now bases held ready to rush forward to Am- continent and Japan or Asiatic 000 Japs, will be cleaned up more the same area as Kiska. - Building for American armed forces, are ex- | chitka and beyond when the usual mainland. It is almost on the great | easily as even the brief intervals|airways for homnbers is reported to

ceptionally well located jo offen- Aleutian fogs - make transportation | circle route from Seattle or Fair- between heavy fogs may ide aged have

lar. Two of the training courses found most useful are those for women who wish to replace dairy and poultry men, The victory corps high school group, which is also being recruited, work in a different way than this women’s land army. They will go out in groups during Ihe summer and be under supervision, probably

gatory but which are being suggested for work on Adak’s good harbors will| miles from Kiska and 250 from

the farm. The program is to be completely decentralized so that every state will do its own recruiting. They hope to set some standards for training, and also for the conditions under which women will work. In Great Britain, of course, the women in the land &rmy have many of the same benefits that the