Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 June 1943 — Page 15

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THURSDAY, JUNE 17. 1943

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SECOND SECTION

oosier Vagabond

| SOMEWHERE IN AFRICA (By Wireless). —A good friend of mine on this southern trip was Lt. Leslie Boyd of Ontario, Cal. His work causes him to travel a lot, and he knows remote parts of Central. Africa “and the Middle East as well as he knows California. ; We went exploring and gadgetshopping together in several parts . of the world. One day in a native market on the coast of Africa a beautifully embroidered fez caught my eye. So I asked two Negro shopkeepers “How much?” They named a price, and Les and I automatically threw up our hands and pooh-poohed the whole idea. Of course the normal procedure is to keep on haggling, you coming up and they coming down, until finally you arrive at about the price you both knew it should be all the time. But in this case we just said the price was too much and walked on. There was no other fez market as nice as that one, and so a half hour later we wound up again before huis stall, ready to start bargaining. But by now the wo shop owners weren't interested. They just didn't want to play. : Apparently I had made a breach of local business etiquet by walking away when I really was interested. And they never did sell it to me, either. They were perfectly friendly and nice but they just wouldn't talk price any more. They knew I would now pay more than I had originally intended, yet they finally let ime go to another stall and buy a fez from another fellow. That's the way I think business should be conducted—transactions by whim only. If you suddenly don’t feel like making some money, then just skip it. If I could only be like that I could just write a column or two a month.

Africans Enjoy Fun

THESE AFRICAN Negroes have a sense of fun about them all the time. Another incident happened the same day. Lt. Boyd and I stopped to talk to the woman from whom I had bought the material for my pajamas, and we were welcomed like long-lost members of the family.

‘(Lowell Nussbaum is on vacation. This is the last of a series of articles on Canada’s manpower

situation.)

OTTAWA, June 17.—“Public response to our manpower regulations, which I'll admit are drastic, show how completely Canadians are in this war heart and soul,” said Labor Minister Humphrey Mitchell, “Why should voluntary compliance surprise anyone?” he asked. “Just lately I was in England, and I saw that Labor Minister Bevin has just as much power there as I have here, maybe a little more. Yet Bevin gets about 95 per cent voluntary compliance, as we do. “The compelling force behind us is Dunkirk, the blitz, Dieppe, and Pearl Harbor.” He said the fundamental pattern of Canadian manpower controls is similar to Britain’s, but Mr. Bevin some features and the form they're applied in are homemade to fit the character and mood of Canadians. He cited these important administrative points: the centralization of all control of both the military cail- -up and of civilian manpower in one government department; building a machine to do the job before starting large scale operations; and loading the machine gradually. -

Aliens Work Fields

POLICIES HE thought revolutionary and successful: Canada’s work-permit system and advertising controls which he “asserted “absolutely stopped poaching, or piracy, as you call it”; transfer of 26,000 Japanese aliens from the west coast to beet fields, which they work; and special permits which move labor back and forth between farms and logging— “practically eliminating offseason sitting around” for around 250,000 workmen. Canada’s manpower does turn out plenty. This dominion, small in population, is the fourth largest source of United nations war supplies. The munitions industry hit a peak production rate of $3,700,000,000 this year, an increase of 117 per cent over 1941 production. The 1942 wheat crop was the biggest ever produced here.

changed for his previous regular permit,

Boyd had his camera, and he wanted to get a shot

of us in the market, so he buttonholed a Negro} passerby and showed him how to work the camera.

Then we got the Negro woman to stand between us, with her little naked baby hanging to her dress, Usually if you ask a native to pose for you he will if you “dash” him a shilling or so, but since I was by now an old and valued customer the woman wouldn’t think of asking me for a tip. When it was finished we shook hands all around and walked on. As we passed a stall a few feet away, a big fat woman, apparently madder than a hornet, began screaming at us. “Don’t you dare take my plete without dashing me!” she yelled. “You're being a bit previous,” Boyd said. “We didn’t ask to take your picture. We don’t want to take your picture. In fact we wouldn't take your picture if you asked us to.” The woman yelled back, “You're a bad man,” and we walked on around the market.

Woman Puts On Great Act

ABOUT 10' MINUTES later, clear on the other side of the big market, I was jostled in the crowd and here was this same woman, apparently still mad. She said to me, “He cussed me.” Lt. Boyd stepped over and started to get mad himseif, but I could see a sparkle in the woman's eyes nehind the ferocious look on her face, so said quietly: “Naw, he didn’t cuss you. He likes you. He'd have used bad words to cuss you, and he didn’t use any bad words, now did” he?” The woman looked down at the ground and still said, “He cussed me.” You can’t exactly convey in words how you can sense the devil in somebody, but somehow I could tell that this big scowling black woman couldn’t hold on much longer. So all of a sudden I started laughing. Whereupon she began laughing fit to kill, and slapping her & and as we walked off grinning: she called out, “Okay, goodby,” in the friendliest tone you ever heard. She had made the whole thing up and had walked clear around the market just to put on the final act of her little comedy. You can’t help liking people who get that much fun out of life.

By Marguerite Young

Public Is Co-Operative

THE MAN on the street and his priest bear out Minister Mitchell on the importance of war feeling and united nations sentiment. They all proudly fish out their many papers and enumerate their trips to

. the selective service to register, to report, to register

again for something different, as if those were just a matter of course—the natural, necessary way to winning. “I hope I won't be sent to a farm because there I'd probably get just about $35 a month and board, and here I get over $80 in wages and tips,” said Jean Bedard, a bellboy, 25. “But if they need me for the farm—well, you can’t stop them in the fight just for the convenience of one man!” He carries his temporary permit to work, exin the folder holding his certificate C “inaptitude physige” —he’s underweight and his vision wouldn't do for the army.

“More Democratic”

“THEY PUT up a sign in the hotel about the job transfers so of course I went right away to register again. I think the compulsory orders are fairer, more democratic’ than it would be for the government just to call on: men to transfer voluntarily. This way, every man must go when he is needed. The other way, I might go and someone might forget about it.” Father Robert O'Donnell, a redemptionist, said: “People here are ready for any sacrifice to get the war over quickly—and you should see thém in western Canada. In the Peace river district, you can hardly find a young man in mufti, and the people still say the full pinch of war hasn't hit us yet. The complaints I hear are that we have too few in the fight overseas; they ask, ‘Why weren't there more of us in South Africa’? ” A trainman, 34 years on his road, feels that he is in the fight, all right—he hasn’t had a day off in three and a half months. Couldn't get off to go to the funeral of his conductor, who'd come every step with him. All the’ experienced men, he said, must stay on the job long hours, and in addition to doing their own jobs they are constantly teaching railroading to new recruits,

Softest Underbelly By Ludwell Denny

WASHINGTON, June 17—An allied invasion. of Europe through the Balkans is the natural inference from Britain's action in closing the Syrian-Turkish border. It may or may not be an accurate inference. If the allies intended to move again the Crete and Dodecanese stepping-stones to Greece ' and the Balkans, they would first shut off the Nazi sources of information from Syria, But they would do the same thing if they had picked the Italian or French invasion route and wished to fool the enemy with motions in the Levant. So it is not wise to jump at B® conclusions. The only safe inferi ence is that big action is being prepared in the Mediterranean, and that by feints and ruses the allies will keep the axis guessing the point of attack until the blow falls. © But it can be no secret to the axis that the allies will strike through the Balkans, eventually if not immediately. For that is much the most important and also the softest point in the European underbelly. The Salonika route of world war I is historic.

Greek Guerrillas Strong

. GREECE IS particularly vulnerable. It is occupied ~ By Germans and Italians who hate each other. Much of the Greek army, before capture, managed to melt

into the mountains as guerrillas. Arms have been

My Day

WASHINGTON, Wednesday Yesterday morning, Mrs. Samuel A. Lewisohn, of the Public Education on, called for me at my apartment in New ork City at 9:30. We went by subway to public school 194, on W. 144th st. The principal, Daniel G.

Krane, had asked me to come to’

see a pageant which the children were putting on. In conjunction with the Public Education association, this school has been conducting a demonstration ‘ever since last September of what an all-day neighborhood @:: school can mean to the surround“ing community. The children stay ‘in school until 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and there are special teachers assigned for group work

stored and hidden liberally against the day of a rescue attack. The underground army is well organized. Alone it is powerless, but co-operating with an invading force of liberation it could be of decisive value. Fearing just that, the German command in Greece has tightened its regulation of civilians on the mainland and even more so on the islands. The Germans know that the allies are better prepared in the eastern Mediterranean than ever before. Since the Libyan victory of the 8th army, eliminating the danger to Suez, the British have heen able to build up their 9th and 10th armies in Syria and Palestine,

No Oil Supply Problem

NOW THAT Eisenhower has been able to clear the Sicilian narrows, as well as take Tunisia, allied convoys can supply the Near East armies directly, without the long detour around the Cape of Good Hope. Those allied’ forces, unlike others, have no oil-supply problem. They can get at Cgete by air and sea from Tobruk and Alexandria, and they can attack Rhodes and the Dodecanese islands from Cyprus. The Germans are especially jumpy about the danger of an allied attack from the East because, if successful, it would— Form a pincers with a Russian offensive; Knock out Hitler's main oil source'in Rumania; Outflank Italy;

And probably bring Turkey into the war as an'

ally. 2 = ” Mr. Clapper did not write a column today.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

them. The pageant was fresh and vivid and every youngster entered into his or her part with an earn.eéstness which betokened real interest and understanding of the importance of the occasion. These youngsters will never forget the parts they played, and it must be beneficial for them to acquire such a clear understanding of the growth of their city and of their own group within that city. I went straight from the school to see Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr. at the hospital and left in the afternoon for Washington. Arrived in Washington, we had a very happy family reunion, for my aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. David Gray, are here from Dublin, Ireland, and our daughter-in-law, Mrs. Elliott Roosevelt, arrived on business. I take my hat off to all these young women who carry on their husbands’ affairs while they are gone. Many of them will be happy indeed to shed business cares in future, bu

By Ernie Pyle

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Mussolini Posed

As Britain's Friend § To Hide Evil Aims |

IV—MUSSOLINI HOODWINKS ENGLAND.

THE BEST proof (in September, 1939) of Italy’s intention to remain nonbelligerent for a while was seen

in the resumption of Italian shipping.

Both diplomats

and newspapermen were agreed that Italy would not declare war or allow itself to become involved in war as long as its crack ships were liable to capture by the British. Reports were current in Rome during September and October that Mussolini had even accepted orders for war supplies from the British. This was a period in which Mussolini undoubtedly attained his greatest height as a

master of duplicity.

Italy, the Rome-Berlin axis

On the basis of the printed word in

was still as firm as ever.

But under cover, Mussolini definitely took in the English. Because of his inability ever to speak English better than an organ-grinder, Mussolini called upon the polished and suave linguist, Ciano, to play the role of liaison officer with the British. Ciano, all smiles and personal friendliness, did much to convince Ambassador Sir Percy Loraine that Italy was certainly far from sure of wishing to continue being a partner of Nazi Germany. Several British correspondents told us that on one occasion, when Sir Percy Loraine called at the Chigi

palace and complained about the bitter editorials against

England written by Gayda and Ansaldo, Ciano said to him, with tears welling in his eyes, “But my dear Sir Percy, you must surely realize that these editorials are merely the cover under which it is possible for us to work out better and more friendly relations with England. I give you my word’ of honor that Italy could never go to war against its dear friend, Britain, whose ally we were in the last war.” Even then, many of us were suspicious of all this diplomatic byplay, and now there can be no doubt that the Nazis and Fascists were putting on an act that had but: one purpose. By Italy's remaining on the fence, Germany had only one front to worry about —along the Maginot line. Italy, as the weaker half of the axis, not only protected herself, but also protected the Italo-German border from attack by the French, » ” ”

Beating the Blockade |

‘WITH THE BRITISH already lured into a state of hopefulness, Mussolini perpetrated another strategem. Sir Percy Loraine was informed by Ciano that one of the obstacles to Anglo-Italian rapprochement was the British blockade. , Ciano said that the navicert system was operating quite satisfactorily, except for the delay that it weccasioned Italian ships at Gibraltar. 4 He suggested that it would be a grand thing for friendly relations between Britain and Italy if all the merchandise aboard Italian ships, coming from all parts of the world, could be checked in Genoa and Naples by British blockade officials, instead of ut Gibraltar. To the British, it seemed a feasible plan, and they agreed. Thus more and more spurious cargo was permitted to pass through Gibraltar and reach these two Italian ports. We doubt if the most astute observers realized what was taking

place. It was simply this: When

war was finally declared by Mussolini against France and Eng-

MALAN RULES ON DIPLOMAS

Drafted Seniors Can't Get Certificates Until End Of Term.

Senior high school boys called into military service must wait until the end of the 1943-44 school year to receive their diplomas, Dr. Clement T. Malan, state superintendent of public instruction, said today. He said that a special provision is made for giving boys called into military service an opportunity to receive their diplomas, but he warned against giving them promptly “in order not to break down the whole established school system.” He said students of senior standing making passing grades in studies at the time of selective service call and who have exhausted all means of securing a deferment may be granted diplomas af the end of the 1943-44 school year. Students with six semesters, at least “B” grades in every subject, and 32 hours credit

land, all the contraband merchandise which should have been stored in Gibraltar was convcniently at hand in efficiently packed storehouses in Genoa and Naples. The British blockade experts were evacuated and the contraband was immediately "taken over by the Italians. The Italo-British courtship experienced its first serious quarrel in the first week of March, 1940, when the British contraband control halted 13 Italian ships in the English channel, which were carrying coal from Rotterdam to Italy. The British took the ships into custody, displaying, however, a willingness to negotiate the matter. - » ” »

Victory for Berlin

WHEN news of the British move reached Berlin, Ribbentrop immediately jumped on the Rome express. Before he arrived, however, the British had already released the ships. But if there had ever been the remotest chance of winning Italy away from Hitler, the British seizure of the coal ships ended it.

The British in Rome laughed jubilantly about the way they had spiked Ribbentrop’s plans while he was still on the train en route to Rome, but the fact of the matter was that-he and Ciano came to a secret agreement whereby Italy was to import 12 million tons of coal yearly from Germany to be shipped by train. Little by little it became apparent to those correspondents who had no axes to grind, like the Swedish and the Swiss, that Italy was beginning to turn a cold shoulder to England. As the German armies smashed through to victory after victory, the general fascist atmosphere changed. Anti-British and anti-French posters began to appear. One night in May, we went to the Cafe Greco to meet some English friends. They were Maxwell Macartney, of the London Times, Scott Watson, of the London Daily Herald, and Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Wall, of the British institute. After much talk about the international situation,.we decided to

KEYNOLDS

TI EMPIRL

ZR ALLL A C14

Mussolini didn’t want his anti-British poster campaign spoiled by international incidents because he and Hitler had designs on France. Germany launched its drive against France by a thrust through Belgium. Here is a screen of smoke and debris rising from an anti-tank barrier which Germans blasted in

passing through a Belgian town,

go to the Florida and have a

glimpse of its floor show. As we turned down the Via Condotti, we noticed the antiBritish posters plastered on the sides of houses there. There were two particularly nasty posters. Mrs. Wall said: “I think we should remove these offensive atrocities. They just aren't esthetic.” She proceeded to scratch at one of them with her scarlet, mandarin nails. Eleanor started tearing down the other poster. ” ” »

A Battle Royal

OUT OF the dark, a stocky Italian wearing the Fascist badge came running toward us. He pulled Mrs. Wall and Eleanor away from the posters. Reynolds grabbed him by the lapel. He broke away and swung, knocking Reynolds down. Groggy, Reynolds staggered to his feet and’ knocked down his assailant. Two more Italians sprang out unexpectedly and jumped upon Reynolds, bowling him over. As the three Italians and Reynolds writhed about in the street like a snake ball, Eleanor joined in the fray, kicking the Fascists in the face. Her intervention was so effective that they released Reynolds long enough to knock her down. Gendarmes then magically appeared and took us all into custody. Our English friends became worried about the fate of Mrs. Wall and Eleanor. ; “This isn’t the sort of thing that ladies should be involved in, you know,” said Macartney, “Let's see if we can’t do something to protect their names.” “I have it,” Scott Watson said. “We can start another scrum, and the ladies can dash away in the confusion.” “Here we go,” said Reynolds, and cracked one of the assailant on the jaw. Macartney and Watson took care of the ‘other two Fascists. It was a real free-for-

all, and the gendarmes were at

least three minutes in separating them. When the three AngloSaxon men were picked up, almost unconscious, and the party resumed its march in the direction of the Questura, it was discovered that the two Amazons were missing. Oddly enough, the night prefect merely took the documenta-

Sir Percy Loraine, British ambassador , . . complained bitterly about Virginio Gayda’s editorials,

tion of the men Involved in the fracas and dismissed the case. It was obvious that the police had received their orders. Mussolini did not want any international incidents to speed up the effects of his poster campaign. Almost the next day, it was announced that the Germans had struck at France through neutral Belgium. 2

Hurl Insults at French

A FEW DAYS later, a really full - dress demonstration took place when students carrying a coffin draped with the French and British flags demonstrated as close as they could get to the French embassy, which was guarded by hundreds of troops. After shouting “Down with France,” and frequently punctuating this with obscene abuse, the thousands of students proceeded to the British embassy. Here they burned the British and French flags and coffin. Mussolini drove by to have a look at how his demonstration was going and was wildly cheered by the students. The burning of the British flag was far too serious an insult for the British to let pass unnoticed. Churchill wrote a personal letter to Mussolini in which he said, in part:

" »

No War Ration Book 3 for Babies-To-Be: Volunteers Work Hard, Get Paid in Fun

"will receive their books if the blanks

By VIRGINIA HATFIELD

Babies-to-be and dogs are among the latest applicants for ration book 3, now being issued by the OPA on the third floor, Century bldg. Couples who are “infanticipating” are hereby informed that their heir apparent will not receive a book until he, she or they arrive. Then|« the parents will have to apply at some office to be designated by the OPA. Even the OPA is not capable of determining whether one, two, three or maybe five new cards will be needed by the expectant parents, A. Lynn Minzey pointed out today. Mr. Minzey, organization officer for the South Bend district OPA, is assisting H. Burch Nunley with the distribution here.

See Many Laughs

Eccentricities exhibited by John Q. Public provoke many laughs from volunteers working to fill out the ration books. Notes attached to application blanks make what might be a dull job extremely interesting to those volunteers, There are the women who are self conscious about their ages to the nth degree. One had a note with her card saying:

oy caslosing the Sard 1 an obvelope since :

|ers, nor feeling under any obliga-

[tion to make my age an issue with the public.” Dislike Gossipers Then there are the applicants who fear wagging tongues of gossipers. For example, a woman wrote, “When mailing the ration book to me, please put it in an envelope as I room and do not care for. it to be mailed so that everyone can inspect it.” One person said that the head of her family was dead instead of putting her name in that blank; another pointed out that he was a common-law husband, and still another thought that information that she was a widow might be enlight-

Additional oddities include the doodle-bug’s application with ecircles and line scrawled thereon and a note of apology and persons with unusual names s as R. M. Necessary. 8

‘

Volunteers Needed

The volunteers really seem to like their work for a large percentage of them return almost daily to help out. One elderly woman appears in the morning with a sandwich for lunch and works throughout the

fil an wating to fold the

To date, the only trouble is that there aren't enough volunteers. Yesterday only 97 appeared when 300 were needed. The largest number of ration books mailed in one day has been 39,000. To complete the distribution in the allotted time, at least 80,000 books should go out each day.

With high school students on vacation, officials expect to have the number of volunteers increased. The present system is so highly organized that no person who comes down to work is left wondering what he’s. supposed .to do. There's no waste motion and a job for everyone who's. willing to. donate his time.

Deciphering a Job

Probably the most difficult job is that of trying to decipher some of the writing on the:cards. The record of the checking department is amazing. Of 13,000 cards inspected one day, only one was impossible to, decipher. Every method is exhausted before a card is given up as a lost cause, Occasionally the writers or the inspectors run across duplicates, However, it's evident that the applicants did not send in more than one card with intent to defraud they're 80 obvious about it,

Virginio Gayda . . . Ciano called his editorials a “cover-up” for friendly relations with Britain. |

“We can, no doubt, inflict grieve ous injuries upon one another and maul each other cruelly and darken the Mediterranean with our strife. If you so decree, it must be so. But I declare that I have never been the enemy of Italien greatness, nor ever, at heart, the foe of the Italian lawgiver. . . . Down the ages, above all other calls, comes the cry that the joint heirs of Latin and Christian cive ilization must not be ranged against one another in mortal strife. . . .” But the course of destiny was flowing at breakneck speed, and Mussolini, beguiled by the Nazi victories in the low countries and France, had already turned his eyes toward another vision—a false mirage wherein he thought he saw a second Roman Empire truly great and powerful. His ree ply to Churchill was brief and cool. After dispatching it, the Duce speeded up his campaign to prepare Italian sentiment for the climax he had planned for it--his declaration of war againsé England and France.

NEXT--"Stab in Back”—A Fae tal Miscalculation.

(Copyright, 1943, by Reynolds and Eleanor Packard; published by Oxford University Press; distributed by United Features Syndicate, Inc.)

respect. Its job is to see that everye one who sent in a card gets ® ration book. For this reason, Mr, Minzey announced today, that pere sons who forgot to sign their blanks

were made out properly in othep respects.

At any rate, the work is fun ‘tor :

the volunteers who demonstrate thas Americans haven't lost their sense of humor even with the war and all its rationing. They philosophize, “In what other country could the citizens laugh about rationing?”

HOLD EVERYTHING