Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 December 1944 — Page 13

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“British Readers By Edward P. Morgan

(This is the second of a series of two articles on reading habits in wartime Europe. Ernie Pyle Is Mow on vacation but his dispatches will reappear in this space in the near future). i

LONDON, Dec. 12—American book publications are. already luxuriating in new-found markets in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, where British trade has not been able to keep up its former quality because of the war-imposed “austerity” production. . The British, however, are “pretty confident they can regain, much of this ground ‘after the

below Americans’, for one thing) and what is more they are toying with the idea of making a serious bid to South American clientele just to © teach the Yankees a lesson.

From all this, the reader is not ; likely to suffer and probably he ~ will get more reading matter for less money, not counting what he will get free in an avalanche of educational efforts from solicitous allied governments already expert in the production of pamphlets and instructive tomes of varied weight. The mentally emaciated European will, of course, run the risk of receiving a lot of trash along with solid stuff until book production everywhere can be fully revived.

American Books Popular

IN ENGLAND today, for instance, nobody can prepare an accurate list of best sellers: People will buy almost any book to the limit of its groduction. And yet their tastes, on the whole, are serious and discriminating, Good American books vanish at high speed. Both Walter Lippman and Sumner Welles are being widely read. Herbert Agar lost a bottle of champagne to his British publisher when the Archbishop of Canterbury publicly praised his “A Time for Greatness.” The delivery of the champagne somehow has been delayed, but the book has sold famously, Sir William Beveridge’s report on social security has sold 600,000 copies in five months, and that 65-year-old economist whom the London Sunday Observer recently nicknamed “Sparkling” Beveridge, has Just finished another book called “Full Employment ifn a Free Society” whose sales might outstrip the first. They won't, though, because His Majesty's

war (their manufacture ‘costs are

stationery office printed the first, and the new book is being done by a commercial house which, if it follows custom, must limit itself to some 50,000 copies or run out of paper for all the rest of its list, People are thinking soberly about their futures. There has been a run, too, on books on how to make and do things, hobbies, and religion, ‘It is hard to buy the Holy Bible anywhere’ in Britain, The shortage is partly due to wartime depletion in the ranks of binding craftsmen, One bindery doing general work has not been less than 1,000,000 books behind in orders for years, Classics ' like Trollope, Jane Austen, Thackeray, ‘Dickens and Ruskin are almost collectors’ items. And through the heartbreak and dreary ugliness of war, there has been: in England a popular : upsurge of poetry.

Reading Habit Grows

ALTHOUGH ENEMY ACTION has destroyed over 100,000,000 books in Britain, the war has unveiled some missing treasures, too=~by accident, Out of the truckloads of volumes which patriotic citizens had donated to the government's paper salvage campaign, She National Book Recovery Committee rescued such items as first editions of Shaw, Kipling and the British secret service records of the Napoleonic wars. The long, boring hours of the blackout, the hardships of going anywhere and the expense of having a “good time” when you get there, have contributed most to the spectacular growth of the reading habit in Britain, where it was already well developed. And this year, as last, books will be by far the most common Christmas gift. They are cheap and popular, and one of the few good things the public has left to buy after 5% years of war, To “encourage reading” the National Book League a long time ago invented a gift card which the “giftee” could take to any book stall in Britain and get a book at the price indicated on the card. The idea snowballei until it is a business enterprise. But even the Christmas shopper with only books on her list must get to work early and fast, as a Punch cartoon eloquently testified. It showed a determined matron towing a 5-year-old boy into a book shop, and confronting the coldly condescending clerk. “May I reserve a copy of ‘war and peace’ for my son?” she said.

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

THE FOLKS up at Bishop Furs, 201 Kahn building, have been intrigued for some time by the sight of a single shoe perched atop the marquee of Wasson’s Meridian st. entrance, It looks like one of those moceasin type suoes worn by high school girls, reports Lillian Ball. What bothers the Bishop employees is how the shoe owner got home barefooted. . + « News of auto injuries suffered Thursday by George H. Buschmann, vice president of Lewis Meier & Co, recalled to old-tim-ers around town that Mr. Buschmann, in his youth, was one of the fastest bicycle racers in the country. It was back in 1898, we're told, that he won a world’s championship at the old Newby oval, on Central north of Fall ereek. He was hurt when his car struck a safety zone abutment at Park and Washington. At Methodist, he’s reported in fairly good condition. . . , Officials at Billings hospital sent out an 8. O. 8. today, through the Red Cross, for 50 more pairs of crutches. Several weeks ago, readers of this column contributed something like 75 or 80 pairs of crutches for the hospital. At that time, it was thought no more were needed, and several offers were refused. Now they've had an influx of leg cases from the battle fronts, and they're short on crutches, If you have some crutches you're not using, call Mrs. Strickland, LIL 1441, If you can’t deliver them, the Red Cross motor corps will pick them up anywhere in the county,

Mystery Is Solved

THE GIRDLE MYSTERY of the State Chamber of Commerce has been solved. When the chamber was billed last ‘week by Block's for “One girdle—$10.,” chamber officials started an immediate investigation. They found it had been purchased by a young woman named Marie who works at the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and who gave that as her address.

World of Science

DID THE BIG BOMBS dropped by our Super fortresses on Japan precipitate last week's earthquake? That is the question many people are asking me, It takes its place along with the question popular ever since world war I as to whether the firing of the big guns causes the rainy weather, The answer appears to be the same in both cases. Scientists have long been pointing out that weather takes place on so huge a scale, involves the movement of s0 many thousands of cubic miles of air that the most gigantic of artillery barrages doesn’t effect it. The same thing seems to be true of an earthquake, Prof, Henry F. Donner of the department of geology of Western Reserve university, with whom, I discussed the question, points out that the forces released by the most tremendous aerial bombardment dre puny compared to those in the ground involved in the creation of an earthquake, : Yes, I know. If Prof Dinner or I'found ourselves in the midst of a frontline artillery barrage or a B-29 raid we wouldn't call it puny, But it is well for us to remember that the most destructive forces man can Jet loose are puny in comparison with the forges of nature,

Might Be Some Relation

A BLOCK-BUSTER makes itself felt over an ared of six or eight’ city blocks, Even a small earthquake may be felt over an area of 100 square miles, There is, however, one possibility that the B-29's

My Day

The clerk evidently became confused and billed the State chamber, Everything's straightened out, now. And we hear it's a mighty nice girdle. , . . Jim Strickland, state OPA director, has been catching the dickens from the young folks because of an OPA address he gave over WIBC Saturday afternoon. It seems that Santa Claus broadcasts from one of the stores five days a week at that hour, but not on Saturdays. *Hundreds of youngsters, forgetting that Santa was on a “five-day week” tuned to WIBC at that hour. And then, instead of jolly old St. Nick's voice, they heard a talk on the OPA. First to denounce Jim were his own three youngsters. “Daddy, why didn’t you let Santa talk?” they asked. , . . Don Keller, who handles public relations for Flanner & Buchanan, has been handing out cigars. It’s a boy, John Scott Keller, born Saturday at Methodist.

Better Look Out

IF INDIANA wants to keep on the good side of some of the folks living in our neighboring states, we'd better be careful. This thought is the result of a letter we received from a correspondent who says his home is in Cleveland, and who seems to have been an ungrateful tenant on the state farm. He says, in part: “They gave me a dirty frameup in June, 1944, in Noblesville, Ind. . . . This Indiana state farm in Greencastle, Ind. no good. They don’t feed us good. They gave me six months for nothing. , . . I am so glad that I left this place 22 of November, 1944, , . . Never go back Indiana, Hoosier state, so I cross my right heart to you. This rotten Indiana state farm drive me half crazy. Hell with Indiana Hoosier state. That judge in Noblesville got no brains—give me six months in Indiana state farm.” There was no stamp on the envelope in which the letter arrived. On the back of the envelope was written: “P. 8. Let this party pay 3 cents in Indianapolis Times paper.” And s0, let this be a warning to all Hoosier judges—watch your step or more and

mote Such people will ostracize Indiana. Or do we care

By David Dietz

might have had something to do with the Japanese earthquake, ¥ The islands of Japan are known to be located along & zone of weakness in the earth's crust. They are on a line where seismic activity is to be expected and they are also on a line of volcanic activity.

Rocking the Island

The instability of the main island of Japan is attested by the fact that changes in the atmospheric pressure affect it. When there is a low-pressure area over the one end of the island and a high over the other there is a microscopic tilt in the land that can be measured with sufficiently precise instruments. (Lest this sound far-fetched, remember that it is now an easy trick to measure the tides caused in the solid land by the moon.) Seismographs register a slight temblor on an average of once a day in Japan and many séismologists have felt that a really big quake in Japan has been long overdue. (I am speaking now in strictly scientific grounds only.) The point I am coming to is this: If conditions were such that a big earthquake was about ready to occur, then the bombs might have had a trigger action, setting it off in the same way a fuse detonates the TNT in g shell.

On this basis, Dr. Donner thinks that last week’s|

quake might have occurred some week or even some tein curijey than it might otherwise have taken From time to time it has been suggested that we might set off quakes or volcanic eruptions by dropping bombs in some of the Japanese volcanoes, Prof. Donner doesn’t think it would work because the explosive force of the bombs would not be sufficiently great for this purpose. /

By Eleanor Roosevelt

"The Indianapolis Times

\ “*

“SECOND SECTION

By NEA Service

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1944 :

BUSIEST, SLAP-HAPPY, JAM-PACKED. CITY IN THE WORLD —

Wartime Manhattan Is Dizzy Whirl

NEW YORK. — No me- _ tropolis in the world is as dizzily, busily, slap-hap-pily jam-packed as wartime Manhattan. Missions from foreign lands make New York their mecca for fun after settling their business in Washington. ; Joes and gobs flock into. New York for their last leaves before shoving off for overseas duties, War wives come here to see their men off-and stay on to find jobs and live: in the city. Here buyers come to buy, visiting firemen come to visit, vacationers come to see the sights,

. » s CROWDED terminals swarm like béehives, Hotels are tightpacked.

Subways are bone-crushingly,

full. SRO signs confront blocklong queues of movie-goers who patiently wait for hours to glimpse a film, Every apartment building has a “100% rented” sign conspicuously displayed. Theater tickets must be ordered weeks in advance.. Night clubs are complete sell-outs, » » -

FROM CELLAR to attic, every habjtable building is filled in teaming New York, where more people are packed into fewer square feet of area than in any other metropolis in the world. There was a time when whole pages of classified advertising enticed apartment hunters. Now there are twice as many advertisements from persons seeking a roof over their heads, as there are ads for apartments of all sizes and types, furnished or unfurnished, for sale or for rent. * » » * IN 1932, about 16 per cent of the good and fair apartments in Manhattan were vacant. When war began, about nine per cent were vacant. The most recent survey by the Real Estate Board showed vacancies ranged from one to twotenths of one per cent, accord-

ing to type of building and loca-

tion. : New York is so crowded that the navy has thought of taking

over some buildings to assure homes for its personnel. ® » »

IT IS so packed that men moved here on business have had to live for weeks or even months in hotels before they could find shelter for their families, It is so jammed that a moving

Artist Lee Benn captures the carnival spirit that never ends at fabulous Times Square. Even in the

brown-out electric spectaculars brighten the Gay White Way.

Khaki and blue dominate in the colorful

crowds that surge endlessly, day and night, through the streets, Here youth and age, galety and lone-

liness - intermingle.

Taxis, busses, streetcars, and trucks add their honks to the low-gurgling roar of the

subway. Note the future Eddie Cantors and Al Jolsons singing and dancing their way into the hearts

of the crowd.

truck in front of a door brings frantic visits from dignified, apparently well-to-do men who are tramping the streets - for just that purpose—hoping that thus they may find some house or apartment before it has been rented. . » » NEW ARRIVALS in New York are lucky to get any kind of ho-

tel rooms, even after wiring well ahead of time for reservations and accepting sixth-choice rather than first-choice hotels. Even with a reservation, the visitor may find himself sleeping on a cot in an executive's office with a bathroom down the hall New York's recognized hotels have about 60,000 rooms, many of them double. They are so jammed now that the Hotel Association has asked members fo limit guests to a maximum of five nights, while 1500 rooms have been set aside for service personnel coming to this city without advance reservations. » # # MUCH OF today’s new travel is by inexperienced persons. Many do not think to make return railroad reservations. When they are ready to go home, they cannot get train space, So they linger on in hotels from day to day, using space urgently needed for others. Boom business in night clubs

and supper rooms stacks 'em in three-deep at bars where a highball sells for six bits to a buck. A snort of rare old brandy will set you back $4. Suavest bartenders are visibly rattled by visiting firemen who greet the dawn swigging cocktails. » . #

TABLES no bigger than a dinner plate dot floors as thickly as a primed field of mushrooms. Although they must be reserved in advance, a headwaiter will for a five-buck tip set up another in space that doesn't visibly exist. Attractions up and down from dignified uptown hotel supper rooms to holes in the wall in Greeriwich Village are whooped up for the boom town trade. “Swing Lane”—West 52d Street's beehive of night clubs where bright name bands play in basements with cellar-like gloom—drags in all kinds of excitement seekers. Most numerous are servicemen who know names like “Hot Lips” Page, “Stuff” Smith and Wingy Mannone from swing platters back home, and pour in to see their idols in the flesh, » . »

FROM SWING LANE to West 8th Street — Greenwich Village's 42d Street — the fans roam to spots like Nick's, where Pee Wee Russell holds forth, and like the Pied Piper, where Max Kaminsky, hero of the foxholes, holds

the kids enthralled while the foam dies on their beer. Broadway has another story to tell of crowds that make ‘the street look every -night like New Yorkers are used to seeing it on New Year's Eve and election night. Weaving into and out of the queues which run blocks long from theater marquees are boomtown hordes. These crowds line up against a background of dance halls, turtle , souvenir stalls, newsreel theaters, “grind” houses, pop corn and wiener stands and flea circuses where tiny four-footed actors carry miniature artillery on their backs.

J ” ” MOVIE THEATERS billing stupendous, colossal and terrific entertainment stay open until midnight and after. Ditto burlesque shows which appear and disappear according to the whims of the censors. ; Thick-as-hops ' crowds never thin out in front of the bulletin strips in Times Square where headline news flashes in a moving ribbon of light. T high in the Bquare is a symbol of the times, a phony Statue of Liberty erected to whoop up the Bond Drive,

A gob in his who viewed the floodlighted e yi the first time exclaimed, “ I It

must be low tide!”, or so the story goes. :

Germans Try to Keep ‘Slaves’ Working by Coddling Them

BY NAT A. BARROWS Times Foreign Correspondent STOCKHOLM, Dec. 12.—Heinrich Himmler’s gestapo and SS (Elite Guard) werewolves have had their orders: Treat foreign workers like Germans as long as they behave themselves, That directive plainly tells us two vital facts about. conditions across the Rhine these days, when desperation and apathy are the Nazis’ best internal allies. ONE: It shows again how badly Germsahy needs manpower, any kind of human strength,-for its sorely pressed war production, TWO: It indicates a new policy of special treatment for en-

slaved workers whose simmering

hatred and lust for revenge threaten the Nazis with a real Trojan horse. x 8 =»

THE NAZIS are permitting foreign workers in war factories to have special rations. They are not coddling these foreigners dragged in from war prison camps or literally kidnaped from countries once be cupied. Rather, they are merely protecting their own selfish interests by trying to squeeze every bit of work out of these slaves. Nazi mouthpieces like Dr. Robert Ley, labor front leader, and

Up Front With Mauldin

—

nearly 12,000,000 foreign workers will not revolt because “they are too decent.” . ¥ »

BUT THE Nazis are not fooling themselves; they know full well the danger that lurks just under the surface if these unhappy industrial captives can get organized into mass action.

Hence racial units are being carefully. separated to prevent

men of the same language and |

same geographical unities from devising anti-Nazi plots. It is an old Nazi trick—to split up the potential opposition into small groups. ; Despite the unending sabotage and factory slowdowns by foreign workers, the Nazis are willing to overlook certain minor infractions for which Germans would be severely punished. They have found that they cannot do much about it, any-way-and a foreign worker tied up in prison is not producing war necessities, » » » THE 9 O'CLOCK curfew for foreign workers has even been relaxed in many towns as one way of keeping them in a better frame of mind. Special opportunities, hitherto open only to Germans, such as promotion to foremen, are now available for forgign workers, but without a marked improvement in output. In some heimat (homeland) areas, notably in wrecked cities behind the western front, groups of foreign workers have managed to escape either into France or into. hiding somewhere in Germany.

” fw.»

IT 18 difficult to know how much of Germany's present crime wave can be traced to foreign workers, but the fact’ remains that the police in many large cities are confronted with serious problems during blackout hours. The Germans themselves admit that “a policeman’s .job is very risky in Berlin these days,” due to

igh prowlers attacking the po-

They now hang all looters promptly. ? un ” STETTIN and other badly dam-

aged cities have begun resorting to savagely trained police dogs in an attempt to halt looting and attacks upon police, civilians and night workers, Some of these attacks certainly come from {foreign workers practicing for their own der tag. The Trojan horse still stands fettered in its Nazi corral, but the kick of vicious heels upon the gateboards portends furious action once the barrier is down. CoP and Ta Chicago, Daily News, 16.

sHANNAH<

es Bn <> SH Ne THE TOBOGGAN

" industry are unable to maintain

PAGE 13

=Tomorrow's J . Business and | Labor Have | Common Goal | By A. L. SWIM

ORGANIZED LABOR should examine carefully the post-war plans being made by the Com= mittee for Economic Development and other business groups. Business should give close at= tention to labor's programs. Labor and business should do this because their principal ob jective is the same—the building of a prosperous American—the creation of an economy that will provide jobs for workers and profits for business. The programs are bound to conflict at some points. Ap= proaches to the solution of postwar problems are bound to differ. These differences, however, should not keep business and labor from working together on. certain fundamental points. ® » =» BOTH SHOULD throw their forces behind a tax program that will enable industry to provide maximum employment. Both should work for an econ-

‘omy in which there is no mass

unemployment-an economy In which government, through essential public works, will provide job relief” only when business and

employment at a high level,

Party Liners Should Follow Golden Rule

By RUTH MILLETT IT HASN'T occurred to a lot of women that they ought to have party manners if their telephone is on a party line, And so in a good many homes where a telephone line is shared with one or even three other families, the telephone becomes a source of irritation, instead of the conven{ence is should be and could be—even on a four-party line, The situation often reaches the “feudin” stage — with the sharers of a party line interrupts ing each other's conversations, and delighting in holding a tele phone for 45 minutes at a time.

But the trouble all starts be.

cause some persons feel that as long ‘as they are anonymous voices, they don’t have te have manners.

So they use a party line as often and for as lengthy conver= sations as they would if they weren't inconveniencing anyone else by doing so. . x 8

FOLLOWING three simple rules would give them party line manners: Keep track of the number of telephone calls you make in a day, until you are convinced you are not making an unreasonable number, Limit your calls to five minutes, because there is nothing impor« tant you can't say in that length of time, yy.» » BRING your own call to a close

as quickly .as possible the first

time someone else lifts a receiver to use the line. We don’t always have chances today for the old-fashioned neigh. borliness. But we do hive many chances to be neighborly, 0 And one of them in these times is to treat the voices who share

REPORT COLLEGES ARE ‘BIG BUSI