Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 February 1945 — Page 11
OT 3377
»
TS
.° Editor's Note: Ernie Pyle is’ with the navy in the Pacific, ~ that war theater we are publishing a few articles he wrote before his take-off from San Francisco, of which the following is one, wo: .
* 8AN FRANCISCO.—I {think it permissible to mention in this volumn the two big things that have grown out of the column, since so many people ask me about them. the movie, “Stary of G. I. Joe." First for the book. rr 1t was almost impossible for you to buy one in late December and early January. That was because of paper rationing. The publishers, Hénry Holt & C8., simply couldn't beg, borrow or steal enough paper, Holt's finally = succeeded in printing 239 000 in 1944, and they were sold before they were printed. In addition, the Book-of-the-Month club printed 415,000, which I understand is their biggest first month's. sale in history. (No harm in. a little bragging, is there?) On New Year's day the 1945 paper quota opefied, and Holt's began a new printing, of a quarter of a million. They go out to bookstores over the country in monthiv driblets of about 75,000, so you should be able to buy the book by the time this is printed. Provided, of course, that you still want it, and if you don't I'll send my hatchet man around to chop your head off
Million by Late Spring
HOLT'S SAY the book will pass a million by late spring. The previous book “Here Is Your War,” is past a million and a quarter. Don't you wish you werg a great big wonderful author like me? os got around to reading “Brave Men" myself—something which I've not yet succeeded in doing to “Here Is Your War” ‘I read it for the purpose of making typographical corrections, and bringing little incidents aboyt the men in it up, to date, for later printings. And when I finished, I counted up and found that 15 of my friends in it had been killed just since I came back to .America. That many [ know of, because their families#® have written me. Doubtless there are many more that I haven't heard about, While we're writing about the book, I want to use
Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum
WE THOUGHT we had a. nice sign of spring for you yesterday. But it was all a mistake. While driving on Cold Spring rd. Saturday near the Carmeiite monastery, the Rev, Fr. Joseph V. Somes saw ® flock of geese overhead, flying north in V formation. It seemed a little early for the wildlife to be migrating north, so we called Andy Miller out at the Riverside nursery. Andy said the geese probably were some of his. He's been playing hotelkeeper to 48 wild geese this winter, 11 of which were so wary he couldn't catch them and clip their wings. last fall. Most of the 48 are young ones that were raised here. He also is feeding about 300 ducks, most of which migated this far south last fall and were too lazy to go on down to warmer climes. Andy's hoping to keep a lot of the ducks here this spring long enough to raise théir young and get some new blood among the permanent “guests”—the ones that stay here all year around instead of migrating. . . . Speaking of spring, if vou ever get to the point where you can't stand much more. of Old Man Winter's antics, and you doubt that spring ever will arrive, take pur tip. Take a long walk in the outlying districts about sun-up some clear morning and listen to the birds. We -did, Sunday, and got quite a thrill out of hearipg the songs of the birds., They seemed to be pretty cheerful about the prospects of better times to come,
Still Behind $-Ball
~~ CLIFF BEEKER still is behind the eight “ball, despite his change in job from police chief to chief of detectives. In this case, we mean he's behind the eight ball literally—not in the slang sense.’ You see
he took With Him" to the detective department fis esi
ornament—a pool game eight ball which was given to him by Detective Sergeant Ray Moistner. . .4 Old Inside’ has been caught in his own trap. Mrs. L. Leonard Montgomery, 1917 N. LaSalle, read our remarks
America Flies
NEW YORK, Feb. 83.—S8harks do attack humans «and have a peculiar liking for airmen. Army air forces have proved this point, still argued ‘pro and con by medics, and have created a potent chemical called “Black Magic,” which causes a- self-respecting shark. to bury its nose deep in seawater and flee. In the form of a small black cake, the repellent is placed in a cloth bag enclosed in a blue wa-ter-proof envelope attached' to the airman’s life vest. It forms an inky black cloud in the water when released by ripping open the envelope, It proves obnoxious to the olfactory sense of sharks and also affords protection through partial concealment, _
Aids Greatly, in Morale,
Ww. DOUGLAS BURDEN, of the American Musuem of Natural History, aided the personal equipment laboratory of the Air Technical Service’ Command, Wright Field, Dayton, in ‘developing the repellent. And here is what the experts say: ‘ “Shark attacks on humans are rare, for man is not a shark's natural prey. The sight ‘and smell of blood, however, double the danger to wounded fliers ditched in tropical waters. Sharks in waters cooler than 65 degrees F. seldom threaten a man.”
My Day
WASHINGTON, Monday.~This is Lincoln's birth. day; a day which for all of us hag a special signifi cance, I think. As the years go by Lincoln's stature grows.. Today, when we. face problems which would come close to his heart, I think the knowledge of his firm belief in the dignity of the human being is something from which many of us draw strength and inspiration. I went last night for an hour to the first birthday party held at the Industrial Canteen, and was happy to see how .it has grown and how enthusiastic everyone was at the party. Today I have a press conference at which I will have a visitor
*
from the University of Brazil as
guest—Senora Vera Pacheeo, Jordao. She is an ex pert on American literature, and has come- here to do some lectures and to attend a.special course at “Harvard...
Some of the cabinet, Tadies will lunch with me,
and in the afternoon I am visiting the public library’ SLE and 8h sts, to see He wink dot Biwre
for
.They are ‘the rook “Brave Men” and’
gist of the Universities of Pennsylvania and Harvard, will’ discuss “The Racial Myth After Hitler.”
By Ernie Pyle Pending Tebelpt of his dispatches from
» »
this device w thank all’ the reviewers who were so kind. 'I had intended writing each one of them a letter, but hell there are lots of things you intend to do. «+ There aren't many experiences more pleasant than reading nice things about yourself, © And the book reviewers ‘were certainly gentle with me, Old wartime acquaintances, such as Cy.Sulzberger and Ira Wolfert and Quentin Reynolds, put a lump ih my throat by the nice things they said. And others hy people I've never known were touchingly beautiful. To every one. of you who wrote so feelingly about this book, herewith } my deep gratitude:
No Changes Made
AS YOU KNOW, the bogk, except. for dhe last chapter, was simply a reprint of the columns I'd sent back to the papers from Sicily, Italy, England and France. _ No changes were made in them. But in some instances they were reassembled in order to put similar subjects all in the same chapter: This work wus done by a vivacious little creature who works for Holts named Judy Underhill, The other big hands in the publishing of the book were Holt's employees riamed Helen Taylor and Bill Sloane, both of whom have become good friends through our slight association in these two books.
“The title “Brave Men” was given the book by my |
boss, Lee Miller, of Scripps-Howard Newspapers. First proofs were flown to me in France-in early August, and I made and cabled back what corrections I could. I wrote the last chapter in France in Augusi, and cabled it back. By the time I got home the book was rolling off the presses. The very first copy was autographed by all the Holl's people who work in the. trade department, end sent to me in Albuquerque. I sent a few copics to friends overseas, gave a few hundred to friends in
_ Aerica, and have since autographed about 1000 more |-
around the country. «Once I autographed 175 books in 45 minutes. Along toward the end I'd have to stop and think how to spell my name. For years I haven't known where I am, and now I don't know who I am., Oh goodness, oh goodness me,
Saturday about an unpunctuated ice cream store win- | dow sign, And she came right back with: “How about your own column?” In the very same column, she pointed out, we had a sentence that was a bit am-
biguous because of lack of punctuation. It read: ‘After 10 or 15 minutes of mopping the floor was just | as wet .as"ever.” We admit that a comma after the word “mopping” would have helped, . Pvt. Bob Carey, 5479 Hibben st., needs assistance. Pvt. Carey, invalided home from France, brought with him a! boxful of cherished trinkets. He managed to hang on|
pals
. SECOND SECTION
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1945
PAGE. IT
OUR TOWN: MANUAL TRAINING HIGH SCHOOL—NO. 2. «
Just When Is a Cheer Not a Cheer?
the year the school was started. o o "
By. ANTON
Industrial Training School (original name of Manual) as it appeared in 1895, The
SCHERRER
(Class of 1896) COOL REVIEW of Indianapolis’ schools compels tlie conviction that the Manual Training high school (originally the Industrial Training school) was the result of radical and revolutionary thinking. What the révolutionists yearned for was nothing more than a school and staff equipped to. teach kids to use their hands as well as their heads. What made it appear radical was the Status quo Ww hich -
was 80 sacred at the time that any talk of a change was prima facie evidence of a warped mind. Strangely enough, New York conceived the idea of a manual
to them from one hospital to another, all the way| training “school at almost the across the ocean and half the continent, to a hospital | same time that Indianapolis did.
in Nashville, and finally to Indianapolis. And then| he lost the box right here—left it in a taxicab on the | way to the family home, The box—a Hershey candy | box—contdined handkerchiefs, an apron, bracelets | made from coins and a bracelet or two he made, | himself, while in a hospital in England. We hope the! person who found the box will mail it to Pvt. Carey.
Cigaret Sleuthing |
YOU HAVE TO BE right on your toes, these divs, if you want to get any cigarets. Some smokers are becoming intuitive; they can tell whether a store has cigarets, just by walking past. Others are becoming adept at looking for little telltale signs—just like the woodsmen of old. As an example of the latter, take the case'of a man who got off the bus in front of Hook's at Meridian and Ohio. He was heading for the postoffice but, glancing at the drug store window he saw the cigar counter cash register had 14 cents rung up on it. To a cigaret sleuth, that means just one thing—cigarets.. Dashing in the door, he was in time to line up and get a pack. ... Lou Sieveking Jr. says we're “slipping. " He adds: “My 10-year-old daughter figured out that™o one, about, the guy who left the garbage on the E. 10th st. trolley in 9 seconds flat. "Twas the only way to get rid of it. I've lived in Indianapolis nearly 10 years and haven't yet fig-ured-sut-o way $0-geb the city.garbage trucks to pick | up ours. ‘Someone just got tired of paying private scavengers to haul their trash away. Don't ‘see why they picked on the trackless trolley boys, though. They're not bad people.”
By Max B. Cook
oe
A recent reported incident was that of a navy man whom a shark attacked by making innumerable passes at him as he floated in his Mae West lifebelt. Each time, the shark tore off a large hunk of flesh. This" man was not wounded when the shark attacked. He was picked up. unconscious and bleeding from many wounds. The repellent,. already being supplied fliers, also aids greatly in morale as it will keep sharks off even when greatly diluted by water.
Help Build Black Widows WOUNDED WAR veterans are helping to fabricate small assemblies and parts for the famed Black ‘Widow P-61 night fighter as a part of the Northrop Aircraft Veterans’ Plan at Birmingham General hospital, Van Nuys, Cal. More than 200 wounded veterans already are employed in a complete light metal department installed by Northrop in the hospital. They are paid standard wages. Bed patients work from trays on their hospital
Edward J. committee.
In support of which I cite the singular . coincidence that 1945 marks the 50th anniversary of the foundation of both Teachers’ college (Columbia university) and Manual Training high school (Indianapolis). "o.oo THE FACT that the birthday of Teachers’ college antedates that of Manual by about a month raises the question whether I n dianapolis could have swiped the idea. It did not. Prior to 1895, New : . York contribMr. Scherrer uted nothing in the educational line except, maybe, what could be picked up in the
~Hoffman House bar,
IT WAS. in the early eighties’ that these radicals put their heads together and for once, agreed that what Indianapolis needed most (next to a coliseum) was a place to teach kids the use of tools, To get going, they were willing to start with nothing more than drafting tools. As soon as they had the idea, they put in into effect. They got started with a faculty comprising Bernard Vonnegut, Arthur Bohn, T. R. Bell and A. Lindenberg, . Mr. Vonnegut and Mr. Bohn taught descriptive geometry, architectural drawing and design. Mr. Bell had charge of machine drafting and Mr. Lindenberg taught modeling and free-hand drawing. Arthur Bohn lives to tell the tale. It was a mighty fine faculty and nobody knew it better than Indianapolis fathers. At any rate, the boys kept coming in such ‘droves that finally it embarrassed the faculty. » » n
AT THIS critical stage the
The glorious truth 1s that Ine GEéWerte Schule asked—the In
dianapolis, started a manual training school without any outside help. Which brings me to ‘the point of today's piece, namely; the Gewerbe . Schule, -a private school on E. Maryland st. in the block where the Marion county jail now stands. . The Gewerbe Schule (the Teutonic equivalent for ‘a trade school) was thought up by a group of hand-picked Germans which included, among others, Dietrich A. Bohlen (architect), Herman Lauter (manufacturer of furniture), Otto Stechhan (manufacturer of lounges) and Clemens Vonnégut (hardware). For temper and temperament, this group had everything beat in Indianapolis at the time.
Why Be Janifor's Secretary When Big Spoils Are Ahead?
(Mich) the work is nil, or durn near. My kind of a job, all right.
By FREDERICK C. OTHMAN United Press Staff -Correspendens WASHINGTON, Feb. 13. — Now
comes former Governor Charles Edison of New Jersey to chide me for wanting to be the janitor of Rep. investigating |an organist in the Hudson county jail, he added, or become the courthouse janitor's secretary at $4000 a year, or maybe.a foreman of
Hart's
The pay is $1560 a year and, ac-
cording to Rep- Albert J. Engel
urgent communication. portunities for weary janitors, he said, exist in New Jersey.
dianapolis school board for financial support. The_ school board
_-discovered that it couldn't legally
finance private schools. Which left no- alternative but to cheat the law. The delightful fraud proved even better than the giving of money. The: resourceful school board put William H. Bass, the pick of the public school system,. on the Gewerbe Schule's faculty.
He brought. Brandt Steele along
with him. It was the first intimation of the school board's in terest in manual training. In 1688, the school board opened a department of manual training in the cellar of its own high school (the one started by
Not so, retorted Edison in an Better op»
I might get on the pay-roll as
beds, others from benches adjusted to their wheel chairs, Those, able to stand and occupy seats -at benches are adjusted to the best working positions. Started last June, the scope has been doubled and there now is a waiting list. The army's general staff has assigned an observer to report on progress
with a view to extending the plan to other parts of
the country,
By Eleanor Roosevelt
an interesting annual breakfast, at which Prince Orizu, author of “Without Bitterness,” will discuss the vital topic of “What the African People Expect From ga Just Peace.” Dr. M. F. Ashley-Montague, eminent anthropolo-
The knowledge of the background and history of
8 race and its gradual development is always of vital| ;
interest not gnly to the people of that race, but to all other races with whom they associate, An interesting letter has come to my notice from one of our young men stationed in Paris. It is typical of the way many of our boys feel, and so I quote a little of it here for you: y “I'm convinced that whether I should leave for the States tomorrow or next year, this junket has beet good for me. It has taught me-how to appreciate home. I mean that “The little things that one becomes accustomed to over there’ where you are—the insignificant comforts and freedoms of life—and then.the whole composite goodness and richness of being an American— I am aware of the prediousness of all these things as I've never beén before.
“And I'm certain that the fellows who've ‘been | id
~ Up Front With Mauldin
F away from home for many months (and some eve) Md}
« for years, ow) «the boys who have ay been fight- |
y.avare of ou
man of experience (he's president
‘lan organist appointed to the com-
“Hart has home-town Suen, for
|tle cry these many years why, | change now?”
jaciin Sledners ak thas wae, _ might ‘even
"Gewerbe Schule,"
=
| |
Hig
Lohor . World Envoys 2p Hail Hillman In Unity Plea
(Continued From Page One)
"Sir Walter Citrine, the Britisher who made the plans for the current conference, expected to make a last effort toward compromise to prevent wrecking the éx-
“isting International Federation of
ancestral seat of
Manual Training.
Prof. Shortridge). Bass was put in charge. The experiment proved so . successful that pretty soon Mr. Bass didn't have enough room to operate in nor enough - money to operate with.
William H
" ” 8 © - THE IMPASSE; for such'it was, called for a big and .roomy manual training school wholly above - ground. More specifically, it “called for a law and an increased
tax rate to make such a school possible. At this.stage (1891) two Indianapolis legislators, Otto Stech- - ran ahd Fred J. Mack, peeled their goats and went to work. Mr. _Stechhan authored such a bill and Mr. Mack nursed it. Otherwise it might have died in comraittee. When the bill wés finally passed, it had all the marks of a compromise, for hidden in the law was a joker slipped in by the . opposition. > The. joker was the tax rate which was so ridiculously low that it postponed the buiiding of a manual training high school for at least a hundred years.
u EJ ”
THE SCHOOL BOARD was in a_predicament and nobody enjoyed it more than the opposition, a group made up for the most part of Indianapolis fathers and mothers. The fathers swore that only over their dead bodies could Virgil and Caesar be kicked out of the public school system. The equally determined mothers vowed that never. in .the world would “they permit their precious offspring to get their lily-white hands soiled in high school. . Their joy was short-lived. It
“ras cut shert-by-the-president of »-
"the $hoo} bgardl who, in this-case, happened to be John P. Frenzel. He had the God-given gift of meeting unusual demands, a talent sometimes associated with bankers. TE In no time at all, Mr. Frenzel figured out a way of anticipating tax collections with the result that everybody was fooled, including even the legislature. Instead of a century as everybody had predicted, it took the school board less than four years to pro« vide Indianapolis with a quartermillion dollar manual training high school.
vacuum cleaners for Mayor Frank Hague. “Just a word of caution,” wrote Edison from West Orange. “Do not. agree to take that job unless you receive the same emoluments of office which Hart's home organization under Mayor Hague gives to Janitors in Hudson county.
Gold-Sealed : Job
“Official civil service records showed that the county, in consideration of the onerous, back-break-ing duties of its courthouse janitor, found it only fit and proper that he should have a secretary at a salary of $4000. Just visualize yourself dictating letters to’ your secretary while you are busy with a mop. Perhaps you'll have letterheads with. gold seals. The possibilities” are infinite.” They certainly are. As a business
of Thomas A. Edison, Inc.), Edison suggested that by all means I persuade Rep. Hart to appoint me secretary to the janitor. “Then, too, if Hart follows the practices of his home’ county boss,” Edison continued, “he might have
mittee. Hudson county ‘has four organists on the payroll of the Jail Do you play an organ?”
Awaits Big Chance
I am a musical fellow, all right, and I think 1 could learn, but I'm not making up my mind yet. I'm exploring all offers. “Hague also has on the county payroll a foreman of vacuum cleaners at $4000 a year,” Edison said.
setfing ‘up that Job, too, h “What's good ‘enough for Hudson county _ is good enough for Washington. That has been the bat- |
1 could superintend at least sixy and | dust the rug
on
but |
IT WAS probably Mr. Frenzel, too, who recognized -the unique - architectural problem inherent in the new kind of high school. Anyway, it was he who persuaded the school board to have a na-tion-wide competition for the selection of an architect. Wilson Bros. & Co. of Philadelphia .submitted the prize plan. It was a highly articulated plan consisting of three distinct. units - representing respectively the science, literary and manual training departments. = Measured by cubic contents, the literary de« partment was the smallest of the lot. The three units were defined the outside by: two sturdy towers which scrupulously marked the end of one department and the beginning of the next. The pioneer school was designed to house 500 students. The enormous B8izz was good for another laugh which didn’t last long either. On the opening day 526 kids showed up (278 boys and 248 girls). It was the first time in the history of Indianapolis schools that the boys outnumbered tie girls.
|
: ® = = IT WAS on that day, too, in February, 1895, that Indianapolis learned for the first time that the premiated plan included cooking and sewing laboratories for the girls. The discovery rocked the foundations of Indianapolis. Even . the proponents of manual training got scared for fear that, maybe, in their enthusiasm they had gone too far. The reaction was terrific and ‘compriséd every ‘form of derision the human mind was capable’ of. Included in thelist. of - horrible examples was a sneering couplet composed by rascals of the North side high school:
“Girls in white, “girls ih red, They're the gals that make the “bread.”
Immediately, the school board _ordered a meeting of the princh ‘pals of the two high Schools. It was “their ‘business to settle; HL and for all, the essential quality of acceptable high school cheers. Basically the question was: When is a cheer not a cheer? When it's a jeer, opined the | two principals, thus establishing a precedent for all time to’ come. k
TOMORROW-—Big Chief, Janus and the Skipper,
“Have you not been too hasty in applying for the job: you wrote about?” he asked. “Don’t you feel that there are other and more golden. opportunities, if you only play your ecards right with Mr. Hart? “Please remember that I am concerned only with your best interests and would not like to see you go astray.” Edison is absolutely right. I'm going to wait. There must be similar jobs, involving big wages and little work, elsewhere in this nation.| How's to write me about. 'em, before ! I make up my mind and maybe] ruin my life? Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh,! boy!
* HANNAH ¢
L YX/ LA 4 kt of
=
of L. dec
“Trade Unions.
If successful, this“would involve taking into it. the Russians and the C. 1. © The A. F.of L., a member of the international, says it wants to asso- ¥ Sala With Be} Mr. Perkins Delegates noted in the news from the ‘Miami, Fla. meeting of the A. F. of L. executive council that William Green had forecast an A. F. of L. effort to bring about a “unity meeting” 3 in the United States. The attitude ot the Cc. LG leaders here was that it ig ail right for him to do so “with what is left of the International Federation of Trade Unions.” 8 n . FOR HILLMAN'’S introduction, George Isaacs, a Britisher whose sense of humor has thawed the
.coldness ‘of the gathering which
speaks half a dozen ‘languages, turned over the gavel to R. J: Thomas, head of the United Automobile Workers, with the remark that Mr. Thomas “understands the next speaker's language.” Mr. Thomas told the delegates that Mr. Hillman was chairman of the C. I. O. Political Action
- Committee “which in our opinion
re-elected President RoosexaIt.” In a 40-minute speech, Mr. Hillman said that peace arrangements already are being made and that world labor can lose no time in presenting its demands. He criticized the International Federation of Trade Unions, charging it with “ineffectual representation of labor and procrastination,” eR 8 a THIS SITUATION exists, he said, “in no small measure because the representatives of the international federations’ American affiliate—the A. F. of Li— stubbornly persists in nursing narrow factional feuds, petty jealousies and anti-Soviet bias.” Mr. Hillnian said the A. F. of L. membership does not share this attitude and he had “hope that the leaders of that body will reverse themselves.” Mr. Hillman got more applause than any previous speaker. » » . CITRINE'S supporters said he will defend the international federation from Mr. Hillman's crit. icisms, ‘and urge a form of drganizaticn leaying room for all American labor bodies. That would leave up to ao F,
playing a affairs. Whatever the outcome it seems likely that the C. I. O. will gain
TI part in world
added prestige,. at home as well
as. integnationally, .
We, the Women—. Pioneer Spirit Still Lives Among Wives
By RUTH MILLETT
PUT INTO EFFECT the star tling proposal of James G. Pulton, newest member of congress and former ‘deck officer for an“ aircraft carrier in the Pacific, and Uncle Sam will find out that there's one group of women not reluctant to go overseas. The congressman's proposal is. to send overseas the wives (and even children) of fighting men to be with them ‘everywhere but in advance combat areas. Says he: ‘ “Lots of women still have the pioneer spirit and would want to go.” » ” » iT HAS BEEN. tough gomg trying to get a sufficient xumber of WACs, WAVES and nurses to volunteer for overseas duty. .
‘But it's a safe bet that war
women reluctant to sign up
- overseas duty. Either they have
a husband in they want
n the question of it