Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 July 1943 — Page 9

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1943

The Indianapolis

Hoosier Vagabond

.' WITH THE U. S. NAVY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN (By Wireless—Delayed' —As long as this ship of the high seas, even after every member of present has been transferred away, I'm sure the story of the searchlights will linger on in the wardroom and forecastle like a written legend It is the story of a few minutes when the fate of this ship hung upon the whim of the enemy. For some reason which we probably will never know the command to obliterate us was never given our bad moment occurred just as we had ended our long invasion voyage from North Africa and stopped at our desigated place of the south coast of Sicily. Our ship was about three and a half miles from shore which in the world of big guns is practically hanging in the cannon muzzle Two or three smaller ships were in closer than we were but A bulk of our invasion fleet stood far out to, sea behind us. Our admiral had the reputation a hand in shoot! to form throughout this invasion We'd been stopped only a minute when big searchlights blinked on from the shore ard began to search the waters. Apparently watchers ashore had heard some sounds at sea

Beams Find Their Mark

THE LIGHTS swept ark water and after a few them centered dead upon us and stopped. Then as we held our breaths the searchlights one by one, came down with their beams ship. They had found their mark. All five of

ours sails the

great.

the shooting and he certainly ran true

the

across the exploratory sweeps one

back and for

be lights.

upon our over a shore line i us in thei r white shafts as babies and just as scared. to bawl like one if it would this searchlight business meant the

of we sat I would ha have helped for

By Ernie Pyle

nemy had us on the block. We not only were discovered, we were caught in a funnel from which there was no escaping. We couldn't possibly move fast enough to run out of their beams. gunning distance. stuck on the end of five merciless poles of light, were utterly helpiess. “When that fifth searchlight stopped on us ail my children became orphans,” one of the officers said later Another one said: “The straw that broke my back was when the anchor went down. The chain made so much noise you could have heard it in Rome.” A third one said: “The fellow standing next to me! was breathing so hard I couldn't hear the anchor go down. Then I realized there wasn't anybody steng- | ing next to me.”

Sit Quiet Like a Mouse |

WE GOT all set to shoot at the lights but then] we waited. Our admiral decided there was some Foe sibility they couldn't see us through the slight haze although he was at a loss to explain why all five lights stopped on us if they couldn't see us. |

We had three alternatives—to start shooting and | thus compel return fire: to up anchor and run for it:| or to sit quiet like a mouse and wait in terror. We did the latter. I don't know how long the five lights were on us. It seemed like hours. It may have been five minutes. | At any rate at the end of some unbelievably long! time one of them suddenly blinked out. Then one by one, seemingly erratically and with no purpose! in mind, the others went out, too. The last one; held us a long time as though playing with us, Then it too went out and we were once again alone in the. blessed darkness. Not a shot had been fired. Weve never yet found out for sure why the Italian | big guns on the shore didn't let us have it I guess I'm always going to have to love the ftal- | ians for anybody else behind those searchlights and guns that night and we of this ship would be telling, oyr searchlight yarn to St. Peter by now.

We were a sitting duck. We were

aside Tndleranols By Lowell Nussbaum

FIREMEN AT Engine House Prospect—watered the elephants yesterday, but they didn't get any circus passes. The elephants, two of them, were aboard a truck bound for a fair at North Vernon when the truck broke down. While the truck was being repaired, the keeper started the elephants walking down Madison ave. At the engine house. he stopped and asked firemen to give the ponderous pachyderms a drink. The boys got tired of filling buckets since the elephants took one sip to empty the buckets So the Keeper had the elephants lift their trunks, and the firemen just turned the hose down the elephants’ throats. When they had enough. the elephants closed their the cooling water flow over their lots of fun for the firemen, and as well.

17—Madison ave at

Mie just

and let ck hides t Was

borhood Kids

Too Busy to Be Drafted

JOHN FERREE. chairman of Draft Board 6 Received a letter from Mrs, Morris E Bilan 23 S. Downey ave. explaining that her husband had received a questionnaire, but he was not going to fill it out because he's too busy doing war work and isn't interested in changing the job he's had the last Before John had time to think of hollering for the cops. he noticed the postscript which read: My husband's present position is with the U. S. air force in England. His duties consist of laying eggs on Germany from a B-17 Flying Fortress. He likes his work very much, therefore he is not

Drive on Waste

WASHINGTON, July 28—The budget bureau is starting a new service designed to promote efficiency in government and to save the taxpayers some money. It has just put in operation a field service which charged with checking up on the operations of federal agencies out in the country The object is to remove waste and duplication, to weed out agencies that perform no real service if that is found to be the fact, to co-ordinate local, state and federal agencies for the greatest effectiveness, and to make sure that the taxpayer's money is spent most efficiently. This field service was proposed to congress by Budget Director Harold D. Smith. He discovered (that the movement spends some $26.000.000 every year, through the general accounting office and other auditing agencies, in checking back to see whether money appropriated by congress has been legally and properly spent. Why not, said he, check at the source and stop wherever possible the unnecessary spending of money? He suggested an appropriation of $205,500 for the budget bureau service but congress cut this to $105,250. Consequently it was not possibile to establish the service on the scale desired, but the first field office already has been opened—at Houston, Tex. covering 10 southwestern states—and two more are to be opened by October in Chicago, for the Middle West, and San Francisco, for the Far West,

has

that

fa “P 8S

Chief Has Long Experience

J. OTIS GARBER. had long experience in f for his staff men long work. “No theorsticians,” he said. His staff is small, five people here. including Earl Latham, assistant chief, and five people in each of the three field offices projected on the basis of the

My Day

NEW YORK CITY, Tuesday.—I was talking last night to a man of some experience in the business world, a man whose opinions I greatly respect. Much to my pleasure, he said that he felt there was not only going to be work for everybody at the end of the war, but plenty of work. What he meant was, I think, that the future really depends on our ability to imagine possibilities and then to set to work to use our minds and ingenuity in working out our dreams so that they become practical realities. Congress is now at home, and we, the people, have a chance to talk to our congressmen. Why not ask them to come to meetings and put a few questions to them so that we shall know what they are going to work for when they meet again? The fall of

chief of the new service, has the government and is picking active in practical government

M Mussolini has brought peace within the realms of

possibility. Many people, who before would not ciscuss post-war activities because, first of all, the war By he won. now realize that the time has come to plan for peace. In view of this, here are the questions I should like to ask my congressman: In our district, what plans are now being made for future employment of all the available labor now at work, plus the returning number of soldiers? What plans in my district have been make for the

volved.

contemplating any change of position until his present, job is completed. I might mention that his name is Lt. Morris E. Butler.” Says Chairman Ferree: I was really told off, wasn't I!"

Who's the Champ?

OUR RECENT reference to Mrs. Dick James, wife of the state auditor, as the four-leaf clover-picking champion of the north side got us in hot water. We | sald she went out and picked 11 one day,

next. Miss Eldena Lauter, one of the founders of

the symphony, told one of our agents that she often |

had done better than twice that good in a day. And| a bashful reader who failed to give her name writes that she found 28 in one day, pressed them all in her Bible. “I was told.” she wrote, and put them in a book or someplace where you could keep them that your wish would come true. wished and put all 28 in my Bible that my husband would not have to go to war. Well that is a lot of hooey, because he was inducted on May 29

WACs Lose Their Cokes

THERE ARE CARDBOARD cutout WACs stan ding | at the east and west entrances to the federal building. | One of our agents informs us that the “WACs" ori- | ginally held glasses in their hands but that Uncle Sam removed the glasses. The cutouts were distributed by the Coca Cola people and the gals held | coke glasses in their hands. . . . Sgt. Carl Baker, of the Fu. Harrisdh public relations office. who recently | returned from a trip to Georgia, reports meeting up with Ferdinand Schaefer, the peripatetic conductoremeritus of the Indianapolis symphony. Mr. Schaefer, clad in slacks and a zoot-suity plaid coat. was having | lots of fun hiking through the Great Smokies. |

By Thomas L. Stokes

current appropriation.

In addition to keeping a constant check. aroun U. 8S.

the sampling method, on existing government agen-| cies, the field agents also will look into proposed new | | federal ventures being agitated before congress—as to their need, and what people are really interested in| them. Thus when pressure groups raise a great clamor for certain projects, field agents will seek to] determine whether any real public sentiment is in-|

Close scrutiny of some existing agencies also may |

reveal that they are not necessary, or that they are

eight the

“that if you wished!

We were within simple and easy!

We!

RR as Sa pe RR ase

One of the reasons the submarine danger to convoys has been

lessened is the watchfulness of sub busters.

Every man above decks

on this type of ship scans the surface of the water day and night,

4 ' Washington Has No More

Closely-Guarded Secret

Than of Ship Positions

(Second of a Series)

By CHARLES T. LUCEY

NEW YORK, July 28.

Times Special Writer

Tripoli had fallen and the

campaign that was to end at Tunis and Bizerte lay ahead

when the war department's

topside came alive one day last

January with a North African message that bristled with

urgency.

Army men took a quick look at the unwinding cable and telephoned hastily to the war shipping administration.

An important overseas wire was

in process of decoding—

there would be a standby of two hours. The Jate afternoon shadows had closed in over Wash-

ington when decoding was finished. top military

by one of America's ment that permitted no obstacles! A vast quantity of war material, needed critically for the final campaign to drive the axis powers from Africa, had to be assembled, loaded and dispatched in ships ‘in record-break-ing time, merchant ships were sailing that night ail over the world Some brought wool from far Australia, some manganese from Rhodesia, others bauxite from the Guianas. They carried munitions to England and foodstuffs to Russia. Some bobbed at anchor in

{ the Persian gulf and other piled

with sugar ploughed north

through the Caribbean,

oveérstaffed. | ® = =

In some respects, this new operation will tie in

- : with the current mpvement among state governors for |

assumption of more responsibility by states in some! governmental functions. For one of the tasks as-! signed to the new service in Director Smith's order is to consult with state and local officials about various federal programs operating in the state, to appraise the effect of federal fiscal policies on state and local! governments, and the fiscal relationships among] state, local and federal governments.

Supervise Questionnaires

IN SOME cases it should result in a clearer defini-| tion of the respective fields of federal and state and! local government, in relation to taxes, for example,’ and social welfare programs. Under a recent act of congress the budget bureau: is charged with supervision over questionnaires that go! out from agencies here to businessmen and others, about which there has been such a howl, and the field service will be able to check directly, on the

ground, as to the need for certain types of informa-:

tion. The service also will check into government sup-| plies and the utilization of them. Not long ago. for example, a check disclosed all sorts of necessities! stored away here and there, automobile tires, type-| writers and the like, which could be utilized. The] service can look into the liquidation of NYA, for instance, to see that its property is being distributed to the best advantage.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

re-education of both workers and soldiers, those who need vocational training and those who wish to proceed with any type of academic or professional training? How do the plans of our district work in with the plans of other districts in the United States? How do you plan to insure peace in the world in the future? Have any plans been formulated in congress, either privately or publicly, that you feel are satisfactory and for which you intend to work? We, the lay people, who get up in the morning and eat our breakfasts and go about our business, are much the same all over the world. We feel we have little opportunity to make the decisions which affect

Herculean Task

MEN IN the allocations division of the war shipping administration, whose tough assighment it is to find bottoms for the successive and constant round of overseas transport demands in the country's toughest war, knew well there was no surplus tonnage now, But against all this the priority of the new North African needs was of the highest. The urgency of a lieutenant general's cable suggested no reply other than complete compliance. And so there began that night the almost infinite task of combing a list of some 200 vessels, which might become available before the date set.for sailing. From these 30 candidates might be found which would meet the required ship position! From these 30, perhaps the needed 22 could be _Squeezed.

3 CHILDREN HURT IN TRAFFIC, 1 IN POOL

Four children were injured yester-

jday, three of them in traffic and the

other at a city park. Paul Denny, 12-year-old bicyclist of 1146 Olive st, was injured when he ran into a car driven by Eugene McLaughlin, 4302 W. Washington st., near his home and was taken to City hospital. *Thomas Peyton, 7, of 1306 N. Grant st, was hurt slightly when he ran in front of a truck driven by Eugene Chrismas, 1234 N. Grant st, at 10th st. and Sherman dr. Emmett Chandler, 7, of 1136 E. Georgia st, ran into a car driven by Harold McKinney, 903 E. Palmer

our lives and the lives of the people in general who make up the mass population of the world. These decisions lie in the hands of statesmen, government

representatives, scientists, educators, influential people | Pine st., | Willard park

in business and in the professions.

st, at Bates and Shelby sts. and was taken home. When Robert Gamble, 9, of 11 S.

swimming pool his!

dove off the side of the |

The message, signed men, carried an assign-

Vessels’ positions amined to determine arrival dates,

were exprobable Operators were consulted for a study of repairs likely to be necessary upon arrival. Cargo on board was examined to determine when unloading could be completed. Each ship must be checked to be certain it was of proper type and speed. ” ” ”

Sailed on Time

INFORMATION on such a detailed scale wasn't available in any one handy Washington cubbyhole. It must be burrowed from many sources and co-ordinated. Services of less pressing military importance must be sacrificed temporarily for this strategic convoy, Twelve hours after the assignment had been given WSA, 30 vessels had been nominated for the convoy, their names and readiness dates given the army. The convoy sailed on time. When the history of the current military campaigns is written, rich credit must be given WSA, headed by Lewis W. Douglas, for its spectacular job of bridging the ocean with ships. And back of today's performance, of course, is the impetus given the industry by the Merchant Marine act of 1936, and the initiative of U. S. shipping companies in developing lines to carry the flag all over the world. Months before a new AEF fought its way ashore at Qran and Casablanca, the army, navy and shipping men had set their sights on that epochal Nov. 7. It meant precise ship timetable operations from U. S. ports, perfect co- -ordi-

Streamlined Darning and

RT A —

TTT

Cargo ships reach a distant shore,

nation with sailings to North Africa from Great Britain. Many weeks in advance bottoms were lifted out of Atlantic convoys from this country to help supply a shipping backlog in British ports. Frequently the two nations swapped ships make convoy dates,

” ” ”

Tanks Get There Fast

THE WHOLE RECORD of supply to North Africa is filled with spectacular execution of vital missions. Once when Rommel's army was pounding toward the Nile the allied forces sent word that they must have more of America's big M-4 tanks fast. This time the war shipping administration grabbed up all the speediest cargo ships available, taking 16'2 knots as the minimum acceptable speed. Regardless of previous assignment, the cream of the U. 8S. merchant fleet was pulled in. Thirty-two days after leaving this country the fleet touched Suez with the stuff that was to help turn back the German army. Transport time, under intense pressure, had been cut almost in half. Organization and dispatch of convoys with this sort of precision is possible only because of the maintenance at all times on a current basis of records showing the position of all the vessels now in the U. S. merchant fleet— and this despite that wartime conditions have limited sharply the use of radio and wireless for ship communications, Position reports on dry cargo vessels are compiled daily by the WSA, every other day on tankers. Reports show names of vessels and owners, flag. allocation to army, navy, lend-lease or other agency, cargo being carried and, of course, location.

Ashless Cigarets Invented

WASHINGTON, July 28.—Darning will be simplified for the housewife by a plastic device recently patented. Cloth to be mended is stretched over a supporting head of improved design which is illuminated by a small electric lamp. Yarn, needles and thimble. are stored inside the handle. ” » »

Molded plastic is being considered as a replacement for metal in corps and service insignia of the armed forces. Soaked, scalded and frozen in laboratory tests, the plastic insignia show promise of taking their place alongside the army's Piustie butions,

Magnetic recording "devices, com- | pact and lightweight for army use,

We are the cogs, but we are the people for whom head struck bottom. He was taken have been developed. Sound is re-

the others function. Without us they would have no,

reason for existence, and so we have a right to ask! en questions and to insist on answers, to give or to BURTON, RAMSPECK TO SPEAK | ately. withhold our support of the nen in important posi- |

tions, on the ground that their answers do, or do!

‘to City hospital.

and Rep. Robert

{corded on a thin piece of wire

| which can be played back immedi-

Erasures are made by de-

Senator Harold H. Burton of Ohio | | magnetizing parts of the wire. The Ramspeck of device could be used for combat re-

not satisfy us. We, the American people, have long| Georgia will discuss the interna- porting, intelligence work or as a

training in the art of self-government. but sometimes we are apathetic and refuse to take the trouble. This is a moment in history when such Regu cannot be tolerated.

post-war policies council of Indiana Repunijeans at 8 p. m, Monday in War memorial,

We can think, | tional situation at a meeting of the reconnaissance, aid.

® = =® nsy b

cork is being used to solve many wartime low-temperature refrigeration probelms. Made of silica aerogel, the insulation is expected to open up new possibiiities in the post-war refrigerating industry. 2% a First-aid dressing of war wounds has been improved by use of the pressure sponge and bandage. It compresses the bleeding vessels against the hard underlying bone enough to control hemorrhage without the disadvantages of using a tourniquet. The dressing also provides a splinting effect and can be safely left in place indefinitely until surgical attention is available. » » » Helpless feeling of the smoker without an ash tray need be no more, claims the inventor of a patented cigaret holder, The lighted cigaret is placed within a wire mesh covered outside by

eR RR A haa

and a cruiser’s guns are watching.

THIS DOESN'T mean a daily report from vessels-——with radios silenced, such reports are impossible, But the WSA always knows when United States ships touch port in no matter what faraway parts of the world It knows where convoys are,to be met, and how long a ship may have to wait to integrate with convoy cycles, and 1t knows what different convoy Speeds are. It knows what turn-around time should be and what the usual delays are. WSA's own representatives all around the world cable through protected channels almost daily on ship movements in particular sectors. Only on the basis of most complete possible information is allocation of ships possible. The WSA must know the ships that will be back in United States ports next week, next month and the month after, and must be able to tell the army or navy just what will be available and where. Ship-sched-uling calculations being made today extend as far ahead as March of 1944 Washington holds no more closely guarded secret than that of ship positions; they are known to the fewest possible people required for efficient administration, Through naval and WSA channels the reports come in from all over the world and the assignment of processing into comprehensive reports is so broken down that it is often without coherence or significance even to people who must do clerical work on it. Daily the reports are processed into the position reports which allow next week's and next month's allocations to be made. When each new report is delivered to the highly restricted list Which

0. W. STEEG NAMED BY BUILDING GROUP

Carl W. Steeg of Indianapolis has been elected permanent chairman of the building industry policy committee, representative group of all organized building industry organizations in Indiana. Other officers elected recently are George C. Wright, architect, vice chairman, and Clarence T. Myers, secretary-treasurer, both of Indianapolis. The next meeting of the policy committee is Aug. 18.

REMINDS HOOSIERS OF 2D TAX DEADLINE

Indiana citizens were reminded today that Saturday is the last day for filing second-quarter Indiana gross income tax returns, Gilbert K. Hewit, director of the Indiena gross income tax division, pointed out that th» 1943 amendment to the due date back from July 15 to the

31st, allowing an additional 16 days |

tax law moved the]

* in advance.

Quite a convoy—but really it's only part of a huge one putting out from an East coast port,

receives it, the one preceding it is returned and given personal escort to big incinerators for supervised burning, on n n

Desks Without Drawers

DESKS AT which trusted clerks work have no drawers in them-— to prevent anyone from leaving confidential reports in them carelessly. Table tops are easily inspected, when fragmentary reports from which master reports are compiled are no longer needed, they go into wastebaskets which are locked in a safe until burned under a guard's eye. The WSA's reporting system does not stop with daily account ing of positions. There is also a frequent world inventory of allied ships, arranged by dates of readiness in U. S. and foreign ports. by which world transport problems can be answered. Each week thousands of ship positions are recorded. With immense new tonnage coming off America's construction shipways, vessels being added to the merchant fleet are integrated into the ship readiness tables for future allocations, when they're no more than a number on a chart, they're in the convoy assighments of next month or the month after, From these comprehensive ship position reports, the WSA alloca~tions division is constantly sifting vessels which will become ‘“presenters—presented for berthing and loading after having returned to the U. 8. discharged cargo, undergone repairs. Repairs often may be the element which _shatters the hest of calculations. On the long voyages under pressure of war, time needed for ship conditioning may exceed estimates, or jammed shipyard facilities may cost delays. ” n »

Assembling the Convoys

TO ASSEMBLE a big convoy thus is to engage in a steady flow

of ship replacements; if a vessel is slated to be in a convoy and is found to be a unfit, it must be put back and another substituted for it at once. The ship being scheduled still may be hundreds of miles at sea, and WSA officials must chart the most accurate possible estimate of its movements to give it place in a convoy that must move without fail. As one convoy loads, ships are being chosen for the one to follow it. The WSA men begin picking up ships for a scheduled convoy perhaps three weeks ahead of sailing date, and vessels must be on berth for loading at least 10 days Nor can they be all berthed at once, swamping pier and longshoremen facilities. One of this war's finest arts is the assembly of a great fleet of ships, each picked from seas or ports hundreds or thousands of miles away, unloaded, repaired and loaded again and synchronized into a unified ship movement lifting anchor at a given signal. It was one thing in pre-war days to run a sizable fleet of vessels in a single trade in one part of the world; it is quite another

! to assemble dozens of fleets haul-

ing almost every conceivable type of cargo into a single gigantic shipping armada plying trade anes clear around the world-—and to keep fighting off submarines at the same time,

TOMORROW: U. S. A. develops false deck idea and Reds get planes on time.

HOLD EVERYTHING