Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 August 1944 — Page 15

rs ©

_ would be “behind” was anybody's guess, I was too late for the dugout. The nearest place was a wagon shed which formed one end of the The rdttle was right down upon us. hitting the ground fiat, all spread out the cartoons of people flattened by steam rollers, then of squirming like an eel to get under one of heavy wagons in the shed. An officer whom I didn't know was wriggling

Neither of Us Knew

WE LAY with our heads slightly up—like two snakes—staring at each other. I know it was in both our minds and in our eyes, asking each other what ' to do. Neither of us knew. We said nothing. We just lay sprawled, gaping at each other in a futile "appeal, our faces about a foot apart, until it was over. There is no description of the sound and fury of those bombs except to say it was chaos, and a waiting for darkness. The feeling of the blast was sensational. The afr struck you in hundreds of continuing flutters. Your ears drummed and rang. You could feel quick ge ‘waves of concussions on your chest and in your "4a he sue ded down nd we Joked at each

| RE a

. sae “They feel Seenly their responsibility for making us look: good, no pistter how far from Indianapolis they may roam. Take Andy Olofson, for instance. "Andy used to edit

%s 1, V.Alumul magazine, Later hie went with the . *Qurtiss-Wright public relations staff, where he became one of our ts. Andy's an ensign now, stationed at a Pacific naval base, but he hasn't forgotten us. Along comes a letter from him saying that while thinking of the good "old Hoosier land, he was reminded that it's now vacation time, and “the wacky thought came to me that perhaps I ought to contribute to your vacation plans by guesting a column for you.” He did, and here it is:

Outside Indianapolis

SOMEWHERE IN THE PACIFIC, July 15 (By

Carrier Pigeon) —As 1 sit here some 10,000 miles from home, showing the first symptoms of becoming jungle oily, I often speculate on what life is like in the other half of the world. Mail, the only effective remedy for homesickness, does provide a tasty tidbit, but it only whets the appetite for more news of old

“What's Cookin'”. Its reports on the American asso-~ ciation race make one realize that the phrase, “scalphas more than a historic signifi that the army and navy have ree alma mater, declaring Indiana an university,” one wonders just what life is

also brings a more personal ‘happenings, such as the youthby my 18-month-old son who ly acquired ability to walk by from the kitchen and warily the living room. There he carefully and -proceeded to toss the He does the cutest

| Streamlining Job

WASHINGTON, Aug ‘9.—Like the weather, the need for overhauling archaic congressional legislative machinery is somthing everyone long has talked of but has done little about, but it begins to look as hol: thers is at least a chance fer action.

The senate rules committee has *

reported favorably a resolution establishing a joint senate-house committee to study congressional operations, and to recommend improvements “with a view toward strengthening congress, simplifying its operations, improving its relationships with other branches of government and enabling it better to meet its responsibilities.” + Senator Maloney (D. Conn.) is sponsoring the legislation, and Senator Byrd (D. Va.) long an advocate of more efficient government, is chairman of the committee which gave it favorable consideration. It now is before the senate audit and confrol committee for a $10,000 fund needed to carry on the work, and Senator Barkley (D. Ky) has promised quick abtion. Similar house legislation is sponsored by Rep. Monroney (D, Okla.).

Fight Anticipated

SENIORITY, CHAIRMANSHIPS and all kinds of special prerogatives are involved in the congressional reorganization issue, and nobody believes reform will epme without a fight. Senator Connally (D, Tex.), senate foreign relatons committee chairman, swung a couple of hay-

makers yesterday. Congress has been going along:

about as it is for 150 years, said he, and has been able to accomplish quite a lot. The reason it is so abused, he contended, is not the machinery but “because we're

My Day

HYDE PARK, Tuesday.—Today, Aug. 8th, in Cleveland, O,; there will be a little ceremony to mark the presentation by Mrs. Ellen 8. Woodward, member of the social security board of the federal security sgency, of the millionth benefit check presented under the federal old age and survivors insurance program. This check goes to Mrs. Mary Rex Thompson, recently widowed wife of a Cleveland war worker, and her two

On this day the program has been ‘working for four years and seven months, and the total amount of monthly benefits is $18,300,000. The million beneficiaries are divided in the following way—418,500 retired workers, aged

v 65 or over, dd 122,000 wives of retired workers who

65; 109,000 widows with young children, and “Thildreri of retired or deceased workers. Aged obi 63 Gr over number ISMN, and aged dev of deceased workers who left no

‘Indianapelis-2y Lowell.

other in disbelief. crudiallyns lott 6 s and sprawling places, and came out to see les an had in store for us. As far as we could see other waves were approaching from behind. When a wave would pass a little to the side of us

we were garrulously grateful, for most of them flew

directly overhead. Time and again’ she rattle came down over us. Bombs struck in the orchard to our left. ‘They struck in orchards ahead of us, They struck as far as a mile behind us. Everything about us was shaken, but our group came through unhurt.

You Just Wait

I CAN'T record what any of us actually felt or thought during those horrible climaxes. I believe a person’s feelings at such times are kaleidoscopic and uncatalogable. You just wait, that's all. You do remember an inhuman -tenseness of muscle and nerves, An hour or so later I began to get sore all over, and by mid-atternoon my back and shoulders ached as though I'd been beaten with a club. It was simply the result of muscles tensing themselves too tight for too long against anticipated shock. . And I remember worrying about War Correspondent Ken Crawford, a friend from back in the old Washington days, who I knew was several hundred yards ahead of me. | As far as I knew, he and I were the only two correspondentd with the 4th division. I didn’t know who might be with the divisions on either side—which also were being hit, as we could see. Three days later, back at camp, I learned that A. P. Photographer Bede Irvin had been killed in the bombing ‘and that Ken was safe. We came out of our ignominous sprawling and stood up again to watch. We could sense that by now the error had been caught and checked. The bombs again were falling where they were intended, a mile or so ahead. Even at a mile away a thousand bombs: hitting within a few seconds can shake the earth and shatter the air where you are standing. There was still a dread in our hearts, but it gradually eased as the tumult and destruction moved slowly forward, STR

PE A

Ea Er TT EN

Watch Those Coconuts

LIFE IN this South Seas retreat is not so bad now that both malignat pests (Japs and mosquitoes) have been eradicated. The only real danger that still lurks around here is the menace of coconuts that hurtle down from the innocent looking trees that shade our camp at Hush-Hush-by-the-Sea. I'm told the hospitals have several coconut casualties. They lie in their cots, their bandage-swathed heads awhirl with unprintable thoughts on the ironic twist of fate that should have taken them so far from home only to be so rendered hors de coconut. And by the way, a word of warning to you hardy souls who ‘may someday want to see how this half of the world lives. If you must eat coconuts, be sure you select a green one still on the tree. If you sample one of the nice big ones lying on the ground, you'll be sorry. For, as the navy so cautiously puts it, they Rave a “mildly laxative” effect. That really is putting it mildly. A word on the natives, that small bewildered minority group in these islands since the Pearl Harbor boom stimulated American interest in South Seas real estate and travel. Hollywood is accurate in its documentary evidence that clothing is almost a nonexistent economic. problem here. But in casting Dorothy Lamour in her sarong-famous roles, they have erred. The sarong is worn too high on the Santamy to conform with the latest in South Seas styles,

Who Won the War?

MEANWHILE, WE sit here in our South Pacific retreat, patiently awaiting the “word” on our owas private little D-day. We, too, have our own little invasion to look forward to. And even now I can visualize the post-war debates on which provided the toughest roles—the European of Pacific theaters. Of course, the American susceptibility to large casts has hurt.our theater billing, but to the individual, what difference does it make if he is one of hundreds of thousands of invaders to stop one of millions of bullets, shells or bombs, or whether: he is one of only thousands? And we read of the reports from Normandy, we here hope that our little invasion will be equally blessed with succss, and each one of-us has happy hopes of some day being able to contribute his 3. cents igh to the inevitable Sebate « on “who won e war?”

By Charles T. Lucey

not standing up for our own” integrity. The study proposed he likened to a grab-bag—nobody knew what might come out of it, But to other senators the machinery with which CONEress attempts to pass the nation’s laws®is about as up to date as the senate chamber’s snuff boxes,

‘No Rhyme or Reason’

ACCORDING TO Senator LaFollette (Prog. Wis.) there “has never been any rhyme or reason governing the establishment of the present committee setup in either house or congress.” Because of its inability to keep abreast, he says, the policy-making function of government is drifting away from the point at which the laws are passed. Under the legislative system, all bills sift through committees, and there are now in the senate 33 standing and 10 special committees, and in the house, 45 standing and seven special committees. In the senate, some members serve—or try to serve Zon as many as eight or 10 committees. Senator Vandenberg recently cited the impossibility of attending meetings of six committees to which he belonged, all called the same mgrning. Senator LaFollette believes it possible to reduce the number of senate committees to 10 or 12, corresponding at least roughly to the main administrative branches of the government. Shift of power from the legislative to the executive branch is due partly, Senator LaFollette contends, to the fact that congress has generously provided the executive branch with. funds for expert and technical personnel, while providing none for itself. If the résolution authorizing the study is approved,

_the investigating committee would be composed of six

members each of the senate and house, and would make its first report in six months.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

This program of federal family insurance prevents destitution and provides a basic minimum subsistence if the breadwinner dies or stops work because of old age. The benefits are paid regardless of other resources, such as life insurance or savings, Benefits are based on wages, 50 one person may receive more than another, depending on the wage earned, The highest monthly wage on which these benefits are figured is $250. Claims have to be filed since the board has no way of knowing when a worker retires or dies, leaving survivors eligible for benefits. It is therefore important for everyone to know about. this program and to file claims immedi-

ately, because under the law, payments can be made

retroactive only for three months.

Some day I hope all workers will be covered in this

way. As you know, the cost is shared by the employees and their employers, The employee puts in one per cent of his wages, ‘and an equal per cent is

contributed by the employer. This increases gradually |"

until each will be paying three per cent in 1949. All these payments go into the old age and survivors in-

By Ernie Pyle

SECOND SECTION

1S VON PAPEN MARKED FOR NAZI PURGE?

Or Will Patrician Send His Arch Foe, - Hitler, To Death?

By WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS Scripps-Howard Foreign Editor WASHINGTON, Aug. 9.—Before the Nazi tragedy goes full circle, the personal, political and social antagonism which has always existed between Adolf Hitler, the plebe, and Franz von Papen, the patrician, must come toa collision, On the stage or screen, Von Papen would either kill Hitler, perhaps in a duel, or else Hitler would kill Von Papen—probably by sending him before a firing squad or having him murdered as the fuehrer had Capt. Roehm murdered in 1034. Some such ending may yet come. Von. Papen, ambassador to Turkey, has where ‘he probably will stay.

partners alittle over aefecade. Gen. Kurt von Schleicher, ashen

}fcellor “and she THEI

shal Von Hindenburg. Was. President | "Made a Devil's Deal

Von Schleicher threatened to call out the reichswehr to stop Hitler and this gave.the silken Von Papen his chance. Though he and the Junker -general were friends, he made a devil's deal with Hitler, whom-he hated. They would form a coalition with Hitler as chancellor and Von Papen as vice chancellor. » The following year came the notorious blood purge. Von Schleicher and his wife were told-bloodedly murdered by Hitler's gangsters and Von Papen escaped the same fate only by the narrowest margin, His secretaries were killed.

‘A Fool, a Scoundrel

Just how Hitler despised Von Papen is made clear in a letter which he wrote to Vor Papen while the latter was chancellor. It was written at Coburg, Oct. 2, 1032, and if it fails to call Von Papen a fool, a scoundrel and a traitor in so many words, it is merely because—Hitler himself observed, there were laws, “unfortunately,” which stood in the way. I have a translation from the German. It was given to me at the Quai D'Orsay, Paris, by Foreign Minister Louis Barthou a few months before he .and King Alexander of Yugoslavia were assassinated together as they rode through the streets of Marseilles, Hitler Rants On

The letter accuses Von Papen of having failed in his big chance, as chancellor, to regain a free hand for Germany. He could safely have refused to pay further reparations to the allies, denounced the treaty of Versailles, reoccupied the Rhineland, rearmed Germany and confronted France’ and Britain with a {fait accompli. In typical Hitler fashion, the letter rants along 26 typewritten pages and every page exudes the impression that if ever Hitler rose to power, Von Papen's goose was cooked.

They Despise Each Other

next year politics made the two bedfellows. Von Schleicher was threatening to arrest them both. But as the then senile Von Hindenburg was always willing to lend an ear to Von Papen, the latter was able to engineer the coup ousting Von Schleicher and installing himself and Hitler. Nevertheless, the two conspirators are known to have gone on despising each other. To date neither seems to have dared do anything about it. Now, maybe, one or the other will,

DEMOCRATS MEET

The 13th ward Women's Democratic club will meet at 8 o'clock tonight at the home of Mrs. Thelma Stocker, 2524 Union st.

just left Ankara for home,

Hitler and Von "Papen became |

But, #s7so often happens, the”

he Indianapolis

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1944

‘re. off to. Hunter +

px Cg “Tol

Hoosier WAVES of the Future :

They were

YANKS CLOSING FOR GUAM KILL

- hera Within 250 Miles Of Philippines.

By UNITED PRESS The American conquest of Guam

while Liberators struck again at Halmahera, 250 miles south of the Philippines. Marines and army troops, scoring new gains, were closing a death trap on beleaguered defenders of Guam in the campaign to take back the

.|first American territory seized by

the Japanese in the Pacific. More than 10,000 enemy dead already had been counted and the remaining Japanese faced the prospect of being cut in two as U. 8S. forces drove to within a mile of the porth shore. Raids Widespread Adm. Chester W. Nimitz disclosed new widespread air raids against bases extending from the Central Pacific to the Kuriles in the north. Gen. Douglas MacArthur's communique revealed that Liberators battered two Japanese airdromes on Halmahera with 48 tons of explosives Monday. The Liberators, without meeting opposition, planes on the ground. Night air patrols, also striking in the Halmahera area, attacked a Japanese convoy in Wasile bay, scoring a direct hit on a 3000-ton cargo vessel and strafing a naval escort. Yap Island Hit

Heavy bombers Hit again at Yap island in ‘the western Carolines Monday, dropping 31 tons of explosives on the enemy base which MacArthur previously had reported as “neutralized.” American jungle fighters continued to advance against trapped Japanese troops on British New Guinea and were reported to have split the enemy force into three groups. The Chinese central news agency reported Japanese artillery pounded Hengyang yesterday, refuting Japanese claims of complete capture of the city. Chinese military authorities, however, admitted there was little hope of holding the city, key junction on the Hankow-Canton rail line.

hi Front With Mauldin

SENeS iru 10 it the Duiiey States traasury. The| p>

Bombers Hammer Halma-

600 Ask to Play Ernie Pyle in Film

Ernie Pyle is not only “the comcon man’s-war correspondent” but there are more than .600 men who think they look enough like him to play the Hoosier Vagadbond's role in the movie “G. I. Joe.” At least Lester Cowan, producer, has already received that many letters of application. A traffic ‘policeman in Memphis, Tenn. offered to pay $25 for the

| privilege of playing the part and

was entering its final phase todcy other applicants range from a pro-

fessor of French at the University

!of Missouri to a high school janitor

in Philadelphia.

GERMANS STILL HOLD FLORENCE

Launch Pitched Battle; Height Seized.

By ELEANOR PACKARD United Press Staff Correspondent ROME, Aug. 9.—British troops battling stubbornly resisting Germans captured a dominating height east of Florence and inched forward in the western suburbs today, but in the ancient Rennaissance capital itself activity was limited to patrols and s ic small arms

destroyed 13 enemy fire

With both sides obviously reluctant to launch a pitched battle inside the museum-iXke city, the 8th army's constant probing across the Arno’ river into the northern section was aimed merely at checking to see that-the Germans do not infiltrate back. The British patrols reported they have a curious feeling of invisibility as they steal through the streets of north Florence, because the Florentines pretend not to see them, fearing German wrath later,

Water Supply Low

The patrols said some parts of that sector have no water supply since the Germans blew up a pumping station. Florentines fortunate enough to have water have started a black market, selling it at 20 lire per bottle.

be decided in the loop of the Arno at Pontassieve to the east and in the area between Empoli and Montelupo to the westy where violent battles were raging. In the Arno loop, British troops captured point 557, which is five miles southeast of Florence and three and a half miles southwest of Pontassieve, and subsequently

s (repelled a strong German counter-

attack. On the top of the hill was a monastery which the Germans had converted into a strong point and where the British took a number of prisoners. Front dispatches said the Germans were using self-propelled guns in this sector and they still have use of an excellent bridge crossing the Arno at Ponassiever. The German bridgehead south of the Arno in this area extends from four miles east of Florence's outskirts to three miles south of Pontassieve.

1 WAR material ih waste paper. To assist in this emergency, Indi-_ will have a city-wide waste paper collection on Sunday, Aug. 20. Citizens are being urged to save

all their waste epaper — books,

WAR ANALYSIS—

Fight to the

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9

Such historical analogies are

SEE EARLY VOTE

{ON JOBLESS PAY

lege; New. Yost: Cit, or ms Bartrnr ve first lap foward becoming full-fledged WAVES. among the 23 Indiana women to: leave In the latest cqntirigent this morning from Union station. Left (top to bottom) they are Jean Biddle, George Anna Madden and Betty Cayton. Right (top to bottom) Tillie Pesut, Mary Jane Bowne and Jessie Chapple,

row on George-Taft: Measure. .

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (U. P).— The senate fight over demobilization legislation moved toward the final stages today with signs that a vote may come as early as tomorrow on whether unemployment compensation should be left to the states or.turned over to the federal government. Prospects for an early vote were termed good by Senator Walter F.

Serle" Way Decide Toiriors

PAGE 13

Lod IS NOT 1918 ~THE NAZIS MAKE ~ THE DIFFERENCE

History Repeats, but Not in the Same Way; Hitler-Himmler Dictatorship Will

Bitter End.

By LUDWELL DENNY Scripps-Howard Staff Writer : 9—The 26th anniversary of Ludendorfl’s notification to the kaiser that Germany had lost world war I has provoked much speculation on the similarity between Germany's decline then and now. History repeats, it is said. The conclusion is that the armistice will come this time in about the same way and same time.

treacherous. History repeats—but always with a difference. And that difference confounds the prophets,

soothsayers for the price of a high school history textbook. Certainly Germany is crackin,

ably will be an armistice before the year is out. But, before and LN BE after the armistice, as compared Mr.Denny gith 1918 the differences are likely to be Svesier than the similarities. ‘First as to the Junkers’ decision that'Germany could not win a military victory. In 1918, as a result of the Foch offensive and break through, Ludendorff later wrote: “Aug. 8 was the blacly day of the German army in the history of the

George (D. Ga), who apparently succeeded yesterday in committing the senate to vote first on his new demobilization « reconversion bill, which leaves the administration of unemployment benefits to the states. Backed by a strong coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats, George submitted the new measure in a move to solidify opposition to the Murray-Kilgore bill with its provisions for federalization of benefits and maximum payments of $35 a week to jobless veterans and war workers.

Worked With Taft

Both Sides Reluctant to

The fate of Florence probably will |

George's measure, drafted with Senator Robert A. Taft (R. O)), included many of the recommendations on demobilization and reconversion made in the Baruch-Hancock post-war policy report. It was far broader than -George’s original measure, which dealt principally with demobilization, and appeared to be in a better competitive position with the omnibus MurrayKilgore bill. The new George bill would set up an overall office of war mobilization and reconversion and a special house and senate joint committee on post-war adjustment. It provides transportation of war workers and families back to their homes. The Murray-Kilgore bill would vest power for such transportation in a federal administrator who could refuse unemployment benefits to anyone: who refuses to accept a job designated by the government. George and Kilgore differed on the estimated cost to the government of the Murray-Kilgore program for compensation from $20 to '$35 a week. George would leave it up to. the states to specify standards. Kilgore estimated it would cost $7,800,000,000 in two and one-half years, or about $3,120,000,000 a year. George, quoting a report from Dr. Arthur J. Altmeyer, chairman of the social security board, said it would cost about $10,405,000,000 for three years, or $348,000,000 a year more than Kilgore's estimate,

School Bus Tire Priority Lifted

Hoosier schoolchildren may be | able to match the stories told them by the older generations of trudging to school. OPA today announced that there would be no available priorities for school bus tires, William Aitchison, Indiana office of price administration executive, said that school busses will receive no special privileges in obtaining tires this vear and warned that school bus drivers must give present tires careful attention. “Numerous trucks engaged in essential hauling are being forced out of operation,” Aitchison said. “Therefore, it behooves school bus drivers to have their tires recapped and to give them all other

types of careful eonsideration.”

ing 2 provide one or more trucks. (with drivers) are asked to fill

war . .. It put the decline of our fighting power beyond all doubt.” But this year the Junkers did not wait for Bradley's break-through and Brittany’ blitz to make that Ludendorff discovery. Many were convinced a year ago, when the plots against Hitler began, Others knew it that week in 1941 when their army wag turned back from the gates of Moscow and the United States entered the war. Germany is weaker relatively today than in early August of 1918. Anglo-American preponderance of power is larger now than then. German internal productive capacity and communications, then virtually intact, are now riddled by bombs, An even greater difference, of course, is found on the eastern front. In August, 1918, Germany's back door was safe; now the whole side of the house is out and twothirds of her strength is expended in the futile effort to stop the Russians.

1944 Not Analagous to 1918 If 1944 were analogous to 1918 and a Junker decision could bring an armistice in three months, Gere many doubtless would have surrendered long ago. The difference is that Ludendorft reported to the kaiser and got action—thus saving Germany and the Junkers for another war of aggres= sion later—while today the Hitler Himmler dictatorship makes the decisions. The kaiser was a puppet; the Nazi dictatorship is not. Without the Junkers. and their army, the kaiser was powerless, so they dumped him as the German scapegoat, * ' But Hitler-Himmler have a pri-

vate army, which’ permeates” the

regular army at the front and which controls every block in every city and town in Germany. And Hitler-Himmler and . their Gestapo-S. S. legions do not relish the suggestion that they be scapegoats. They prefer to purge rather than be purged. Why should they care if millions more Germans die in futile battles so long as they save their own hides? Why should they accept any armistice or peace which will not protect their power and their lives —a peace they will never get?

They have given their ultimatum

of doomed desperadoes. They say

| they will “turn this continent into

a maelstrom of destruction where only one cry is heard—the cry of { blood.” We do not doubt they will continue to do that, as long as they have the power. Even after Germany is completely defeated on the battlefield and an armistice is signed, the Nazi party may try guerrilla warfare and later certainly. will go underground. And after the Nazi leaders are killed or captured—assuming they do not escape to Spain or the Ar. gentine or Japan—there will will be hundreds of thousands of their criminal followers loose.

No, the German problem cons-,

fronting the allies is not as simple today, even though the German armies are on the run, as it was in August, 1918, when Ludendorfl told the kaiser to make peace.

‘Can You Provide a Truck for Scrap Paper Pick-Up Aug. 20? 300 Needed by Committee

dn the coupon blow 408 mal oYe

I will furnish:........ collection on Sunday, Aug. 20.

' WASTE PAPER CAMPAIGN

1205 Roosevelt Building Indianapolis (4), Indiana

: trucks, with drivers for the waste paper

Name of Company or IndiVidUB! wv..esvsr eee

savers asenaanrgan;

Otherwise we could all be infallible