Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 August 1945 — Page 10

¢

The Indianapolis Times PAGE 10 ROY W;, HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE President ‘Editor

Member of United Press, Scripps-Howard Newspa=

Fe and Audit Bureau of Oirculations.

CLOSING A BARN DOOR UST before the Jap surrender offer, the War Production

function is to “turn over the unfinished part of certain canceled war contracts to other agencies that need the item being produced.”

prevent “interruptions in factory operation, dislocations and layoffs and avoid the scrapping of materials and parts that have been partly processed.”

just as peace was breaking out and’ not" months ago when the impact of cutbacks began to hit manufacturers. WPB hails it as a remedy for dislocations, it can be as- * sumed that some manufacturers in.the past’ pended operations and released employees only to find in a | few days or weeks that another government department | was tearing its hair for the same products. We've heard | of such cases.

chinery is just now getting around to doing something which seems quife obvious and elementary to orderly operation—something which should have come first instead of last. We had assumed right along that one of WPB's primary functions was to know what the government’s right and left hands were doing—and to act accordingly.

hecause the end of the war won't mark the end of government controls over industries and jobs. "as an immense and immediate responsibility in reconverion. of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion will be really a .hose WPB has acted belatedly to correct.

ATOM FOOLISHNESS yo of the educated fellows keep telling us just to wait

atomie Christmas, boys?”

here's a list they can start working on:

“umid nights.

morning after they've insisted on: “Jush one more fore ve go, huh?”

‘n the next Kentucky Derby. ing on margin, ors into silence after the first 12 minutes. breakfast.

watch to inspire the little woman to cut the grass once a week, And maybe whitewash the cellar before next’ Saturday.

make a hole in one.

FOR A SWEETER GERMANY

ONE suggestion for creating a “new” Germany comes

to turn over Reich radio stations to native business com- | petitors and let the lads bang away with sponsored programs. In the frenzy of rivalry, the sponsors would give off fresh, stimulating, freedom-breeding ideas, just like America,

need. should release the German mind from brooding over gory delusions of world conquest and Aryan supremacy, - And if anything ‘sets a person to brooding, it's a soap opera, concluding every day with: “Will Lucy's baby live? Will John. set the house afire?” listener ‘want to shoot somebody, it's a commercial like: | “Have you a lazy abdomen? Then try our crispy, Sunhy

Monday, Aug. 13, 1945

HENRY W. MANZ Business Manager

Y (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

Price in Marion County, 5 cents a copy; delive ered by carrier, 20 cehts a week.

Mail rates in Indiana, $5 a year; all other states, U. 8. possessions, Canada and Mexico, 87 cents a month.

«EP “© RILEY 5551

Give Light end the People Will Find Their Own Way

per Alllarile, NEA Serv~

§

Board created the job of “transfef co-ordinator,” whose

The WPB announcement added that this plan would

The striking thing about this innovation is that it came |

Since

OUR TOWN— .

- Circus Days |i

By Anton Scherrer

Every time I get ready to predict the collapse of civilization, something turns up to make me Today's message of hope 1s the reassur-

feel better. ing hews that the. circus is in town. It will be here

three days (two matinees), in the course of which time you won't hear a single melancholy peep out of me. Indianapolis saw its first circus—that of Macombes & Co.—in 1830, just nite years after the foundation of our town. It was billed as an “aggregation consisting of rare living animals recently imported from Exeter Change, London,” and included a “Royal Bengal Tygar” and a “Kinkajou.” The outfit pitched

at that time, occupied the site now known as 25 E. Washington st, Today it is identified by the sign of the W, T. Grant people.

Well, What Is a Rompo? A month later, in August 1830, a second circus turned up. It advertised *“a large bird with a stomach stronger than an ostrich” and a “Rompo,” whatever that was. Included, too, was a circus feature billed as “Captain Dick and his trained Shetland pony.” It may just be possible that one of these circuses was the one that appeared in Vincennes in 1830. In that case it also included “a full grown bear.” The Vincennes show- bill announced that the bear would be '“chained’-out”. for anybody to set his dogs” him. “The bear,” the bill went on to say, “will be sO secured that any person may view the fight with perfect safety, »

have sus-

|

In other words, our ponderous war procurement ma-

We're prompted to cite this example of WPB omission The government Let's hope that the forthcoming “master plan”

“master” and that it will avoid dislocations like

ntil the atomic principle is harnessed for domestic use. “They as much as say: “What'll you have for -your

We really don’t expect anything, but if they insist,

An atom to get some hamburger in hamburgers. An air conditioning atom to put under our bed these

An atom machine to cure the heads of friends the

A speed-up atom to slip secretly under the longest shot An uplifting atom for a certain stock we’ ve been holdAn atom with an aroma to charm after-dinner speak-

A toy atom to keep children quiet from bedtime to

An inexpensive atom to resembling a diamond bracelet |

An atom golf ball, all our own, with which we'd always

Some atomic pants that wouldn't look as. crinkly as a |

bellows by 9 a. m.

An atomic haircut to make us look like Sinatra sounds |

to the girls. An atomic clock for the boss's dak to make him say | :

OR ELSE

N time of war the inclination of the people is to adjourn | oD al

their judgment and follow the government's leadership.

Even when government policies on the surface don’t quite make sense, the people take for granted there must be something beneath the surface which for reasons of war cannot be explained. -

But with the coming of peace, the wartime Washing-

ton technique of ruling by ukase and shush-shush will not be tolerated. The people will acquiesce in rules, regulations and laws based on good reason and sound sense. will accept, for instance, such rationing and price control as can be demonstrated to be good and in accord with a policy determined through our representative processes. patience with restrictions imposed. by bureaucrat just because he thinks he knows what's best for the country. He may know what's best, but the people won't take it for granted.

They | necessary for the common |

But the people will have little | some non-elected

The atmosphere around Washington will change. It

had better.

from a prominent American radio official. He proposes

Let's agree that new ideas are what the Cermans But we contend the ideas should be cheerful; they

And if anything makes a

¢ A C4 i» * > om vould be hice to make over the Germans in our : We may. achieve it, if we don't depend.

| trip of hospital patients

of operas and alimentary i

a good business because the very next year, In 1831, an outfit turned up advertising “a large full | grown elephant together with a calf elephant.” Your guess is as good as mine; I gave up long ago trying to figure out how they brought the elephants through the wilderness to Indianapolis. Mind you, we had no railroads at the time, and navigation

| by way of the river was nothing to brag about.

It leaves one no alternative but to believe that the elephants arrived under their own power, There is no record of a circus in 1832. The next year, however, brought Brown & Balley’s “Menagerie and Splendid Circus” to Indianapolis. It advertised (and produced) an “untamable hyena from Ethiopia” and a “North American pantheress.” The circus part consisted of acrobatic acts such as tumbling, vaulting and juggling,

The Mounted Brass Band The first'-circus to have its own brass band showed up in 1836, and three years later Indianapolis got its first sight of a circus parade. It advertised that it would appear “rain or shine” and kept its promise. On that occasion the parade was headed by “the great war-elephant Hannibal” upon whose back sat “the justly celebrated New York Brass Band.” The show bills of the time invited the “afternoon patrons” to. ride on Hannibal's back “like the nabobs and rajahs of Hindustan.” On Oct. 1, 1844, Spalding’s “North American Circus” had its tent pitched in Indianapolis. It was advertised as “the largest and grandest in the world with 200 persons and horses.” The “persons” included the band led by Ned Kendall, the greatest bugler of his time. That same day the first railroad train (from Madison) entered Indianapolis. The simultaneous appearance of a steam locomotive and Spalding’s circus, to say nothing of Ned Kendall, was sufficient excuse to close every shop and store in Indianapolis that day. That night there was a fireworks display | the like of which had never been seen around here. Next morning everybody predicted that never again would Indianapolis have so many breath-taking | attractions in a single day.

Super-Super-Super Colossal It did, though. Five years later on the occasion of the first State. Fair in 1852, Indianapolis had no less than half-a-dozen world famous shows going at the same time. Count ’em: (1) P, T. Barnum’s “Grand Colossal Museum and Menagerie” including the famous midget, “Tom Thumb,” and a herd of elephants (advertised as a “pack of pachyderms’”); (2) The African Brothers Grand Ethiopian Entertainment; (3); Yank Robinson's “troupe of actors” who had their tent pitched on the Statehouse grounds; (4) A pictorial exhibition of the World's Fair (1851) at Crystal Palace, London; (5) Wall's Minstrels; (6) H. P. Diehl, “the world’s most famous pyrotechnist.” To say nothing of the State Fair itself, P. T. Barnum’'s “Greatest Show on Earth” made its first appearance in Indianapolis in 1872, a year after it was organized. It embraced a Museum, 2 Menagerie, a Polytechnic Institute, an International | Zoological Garden (with the only living giraffe ui America), and Dan Costello's Chaste and Refined | { Circus. All for 50 cents. You could even get in for nothing. Al you had | o do was to lay down $150 and tell the tickettaker that you wanted to ‘take advantage of Mr.

right now: “Son, I'm doubling your wages.” Please make | Barnum's magnanimous standing offer. Whereupon that atom retroactive.

the ticket-taker would hand you a copy of Mr, Barnum'’s aufobiography (“Struggles and Triumphs") and wave you inside thé tent. The 600-page muslinbound book couldn't be bought anywhere for less than $3.50. Apparently Mr. Barnum never caught on that he was swindled out of $2.50 on every such

g

FISHING TRIP—

Beaten Handicap By Andy Anderson

SEABROOK, Tex, Aug. 13.—~I went fishing down

here with Bill Collier, and it was a real experience. It | | isn't unusual for me to go fishing with sportsmen— | I've fished with Vice President John Garner, P.D.R,

governors of four or five states, and all sorts of celebrities, but these people all had arms. Bill, vou see, doesn't have any arms. A hand

grenade went off prematurely in Germany and blew off both hands. Bill, who was a farmer up at Littlefield, Tex., before the war, likes to fish. So, when I organized a to come down here, Bill asked to come along. There are a lot of things Bill can’t do as yet. He can't {eed himself and he has to ask for help in other ways. But give Bill a cane pole and some shrimp and take him out to a reef and he'll do the rest. There were eleven amputees on this trip, and there was a five-buck prize for the boy who caught the most fish, Bill ran away with the prize. He caught 30 fish—croakers, drum, sand trout and speckled trout while the qthers were limited to one or two. ‘And Bill kidded the other boys about their failure: “You just gotta have a delicate touch. You give | that rod too much stress with your fingers,” he advised, grinning. Bill went home on a furlough recently. He didn’t have those “working hooks” they give the arm amputees, ‘but that didn't stop him from driving a tractor. “I just wanted to see how it worked,” he said. guess I'll have trouble milking a cow, but we don’t - any milking on our farm 'anyway. fences, harness a horse, make repairs on the equipment and, to offset any handicaps, I'm going to study more about farming and be a betfer scientific farmer.” How does Bill catch fish? 1 figured you'd ask that, Well, he gets the end of the pole under one knee and then places the two working -hooks far

enough up so that he ean give a yank when he gets a |

bite. When he get: fish hooked and has to remove him from the hook: he- merely opens one of those

working hooks and grabs the fish. And can he bait |

a hook? - Sure—he uses one hook as a vise to hold bait in the fishy Yep: a

ite tent in the rear of a little frame hotel which,"

Apparently the first circuses in" Indianapolis did}

I'll be able to fix

Te yoo aod, with fhe oles huok; thiesds.the

Hoosier Forum

“DOES CAPITALISM PUT US ON THE DEFENSIVE?” By Alma Bender, Zionsville A good many of your readers seem to want to follow -Voltaire about defending to the death the right of anybody to say anything {he wants to. I don't. I am not prepared to defend to the death— or near it'—anybody’s right to opinions if he won't sign his name to them. T was always taught that {anonymous letters were best ignored. Certainly if they are the hate-fomenting kind it would seem safest to disregard them. I realize that a newspaper cannot suppress letters and claim to

these columns, religious of the volume received, ters should be limited to words.

and publication in no

opinions by The Times.

scripts and cannot enter

‘run an open forum. But when Wel ang ignore too completely the facts

{need so desperately to promote ahout other peace, letters of The Watchman, times, for instance, are likely to do dam- | Which age to all of us.

nations and

reminds

not run any risk of being accused ‘tp aggression? _The Swiss

| of responsibilty for them. They do old and standard example not, I am sure, reflect general feel- | way it does not do anything ‘of the SURPLUS WHILE WANT

ing. kind. I wonder if people like that reat Roan

{ize how vulnerable our own country |“I8 LINE DISPUTE JUST lis. We are the only country left, FEE-GRABBING EFFORT?

since the British election, that still By wrank J. Murray, Executive Secretary, Indianapolis Assessment and Tax Re- deed

clings to capitalism. Doesn't that| (Han polls : Au And one of your readers said recently that anyone with any “git up

bathtub, automobile, radio, and a attorney fee appropriation, few other such modern conveni-ofejal said that it seemed ences. But cold statistics show that!

less than half of us have bathtubs,!

dred dollars a year.’ those things on such an

income.

{ half of us are lacking in “git up and | git?” And if it does, do we have | anything to brag about?

been paid and

war, Bit we did our share—not $27,000. th whole war. The Russians faced This i Where the and killed more Germans. And the 15 53 casp * when they were, for the moment, a public service. the masters of all Europe. citizen committeees ‘have

cities. farms where living conditions are The work was performed

“Good Earth.” Other nations know | dianapolis attempted to pay

they come to this country. They | had been rendered before

talk about bathtubs is our bluff. I'm proud of America.

abroad if it didn't brag so much! matter precedent.

Side Glances=By Galbraith

[Times readers are invited to express’ their views in

troversies excluded. Because

Letters must be signed. Opinions set forth here are those of the writers,

implies agreement with those

Times -assumes no responsie bility for the return of manu-

respondence regarding them.)

sort of put us on the detensive?| Is the Decatur-Perty township [°F Gen. line dispute a fee-grabbing proand git’ in this country had a Sram? In a recent hearing on an

ithe principal objective of this line and the average income is six hun-|fight was to give large attorney You can't have fees to the participating attorneys. One attorney present stated that {Does that mean that more than ost $100,000 in legal fees have inferred that Ithe attorneys representing Decatur We are proud of our share in this' township are entitled to at least

as bad as anything in, Pearl Buck’s| the appropriation was made.

But I|titled to payment because the apthink it would get more standing! propriation should have been a|tries and ration coal in this counIn the Decatur-| try where the want of it is not so

“1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Perry township case, the suit has been tried, the judge has his decision under advisement and all this was done before an appropriation was made. The Telford case makes it plain that this money should not be paid. The irony of this situation 1s apparent when we consider that these attorneys will be paid, for 2 comparatively few hours’ work, as much as the governor wil] receive

in three years for administering the state affairs of Indiana. But when we realize that 5400 Indianapolis soldiers will face the enemy's gunfire for thirty 24-hour days and other for their magnificent service will | be paid the same amount of money

con-

let250

way

The

cor-

me—practically that these attorneys will receive They should be!al] the other nations have military | for a comparatively few hours’ work, signed so that those of us who want training. Only three became ag- ithen we, can’t, help but be con. to live at peace with Russia would gressors. Does that prove it leads vinced that $27,000 is too much.

are the * ¥ » of the “ECONOMISTS PONDER

|STALKS WORLD’ By E. R. Egan, 701 Markweod ave. With no particular criticism of

the present Pacific command, inwith a profound admiration MacArthur and Admiral | Halsey's daring exploits, still with the experience of Generals Eisenhower and Clark—not to mention Patton and others—we would like to see them in command in the invasion operations in Japan if that has to be undertaken. The Japanese general staff are well aware of the situation and very likely many of their helpless | subjects, so the peace terms should be made for their particular punishment, and without provision of feeding or otherwise providing for conquered Japan. The post-war

a state to him

defense

British stood alone against them Of the township should have been policies in Germany which has reMen active on sulted in e wait and see philosophy

done|and Mmevitably will lead to depend-

We still have bad slums in our more and better work for the tax-|ent Germany's loss of characteristic And I understand there are payers with no compensation.

inftiative and energy, not to say before|lack of coal and food when the In- | present stock is used.

a cer-| Ernest Bevin declared Britain is

it. Their citizens land there when tain Mr. Telford for services that|built on a coal field and it is well

an ap-|known that the Ruhr can produce

tell their folks back home all this! propriation was made and the court| more coal right at hand than we 'held that Mr. Telford was not en-|have in this country, while we pay

taxes to send coal to these coun

much less than in England. This does not make sense-—not that sense is expected in anything connected with war, adequate as

its administration in some respects has been, It would appear to the ordinary observer that trucks and jeeps could be provided from stocks at hand and that civillans must be licensed to move their own coal and in case of necessity provision made for them to buy it. A little common sense must be in evidence along with the at times pompous military administration, that cannot absolve itself from “its. red tape regulations. The senator from Colorado expresses a considerable viewpoint in this country when he declares three million men" are more than enough for the Pacific campaign. Congresswoman Clare Booth Luce advocating the release of all men who have had any scientific training offers food for reflection and should be in effect at once. The waste in material and: the lack of man power for replenisn~ ment fortunately becomes evident at a time when a drive is on. for the incubus of huge military estab lishments, of which Europe or any other continent that has ever ex-

|the army, are pondering surplus disposals while want, the chief of the freedoms, stalks the world. seima———————

DAILY THOUGHT

HIS CELESTIAL MAJESTY ¢

Mr. Hirohito By Frank Aston

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13.-~The emperor of Japan has an income of more than a million dollars a year but he has been having his underwear mended lately. Before the war he never wore a garment twice. his drawers patched to demonstrate to the people that he could give up things as well as they, Hirohito, the emperor, is 44, thin, narrow-chested

of athletics, including wrestling. He considers hime self a fair swimmer. He likes to study biology with a microscope and write poetry. One of his poems, written in 1038, goes: “Peaceful is morning in the shrine garden; world conditions it is hoped will also be peaceful.” Hirohito’s has a special name, peace.” The name, Hirohito, translates words, “magnanimous” and “exalted.”

Divine Bric-a-brac

into two

and that his family received from its celestial ane cestors a sacred mirror, necklace and sword. The mirror is kept in a black box tied with white silk in the great shrine at Ise. Nobody is supposed to look at the mirror.

at Tokyo in the room of awe. Nobody is supposed to look in that, either. In fact, mirrors have gem! sighificance tp Japs, who believe mirrors 1 soul of ‘the sun. ~The Japs associate the emporer with the sun,’ Therefore, the people aren't supposed to look at the

line are ordered driwn for the good of the publio eyesight. This gives the .police the jitters because

railroad track is down, Private Trolley Car ONCE THE emperor took a streetear ride. body else had to leave the car. were drawn,

EveryBlinds along the way

they realize he gets up about 7, shaves himself with a safety razor,” likes eggs for breakfast and once touched money. It is sacrilegious for meney 16 touch

20s and won a bet at the races, some Occidental thrust a roll of bills in his hands. His attendants were ready to commit hari-kiri right there to purify him, but Hirohito said not to mind. He just handed the dough to a servant. He had a bad time shopping in Paris because he never had cash to pay for anye thing. Although he was a mere crown prince at the time, he already was divine. Hirohito had Japan all upset when he announced he would marry the beautiful Princess Nagako, whom he had met at a reception. The princess was of excellent blood, but not of the family from which empresses were chosen. Hirohito’'s response to that was a celestial version of “nuts.” When their first three children were daughters, lots of Japanese said: “I told you so.” The next child was a boy. =

He Misses Plenty -

WHILE courting the princess, Hirohito did not kiss her. This pleasant custom never caught on among the Japs, despite educational efforts by enthusiastie sailors frequenting Jap ports over the years. Orthoe dox Japs say kissing is indecent and immoral. When a Jap boy feels that urge he concentrates on the back of his girl's neck which she is supposed to sprinkle with rice powder and frame in the folds of her kimono eollar. Living in divine isolation, Hirohito has no friends in our sense of the word. He is allowed to give dinner parties now and then for special personages. At small dinners he sits at the table with his guests. On fancier occasions he occupies a dais. Nobody is sup. posed to look down on the emperor. Before our bombers looked down on him and depleted his kitchen he used to serve handsomely, although he himself would eat sparingly. He does not drink or smoke, To his people, the emperor is the top man. But

governmental matters. They “advise” him by saying in effect: “Do it this way.” Hirohito meets his gove ernment associates every forenoon and signs papers, Ordinary documents are signed “Honorable Name.” Big stuff gets his real signature. Hirohito can be set-up to look busy and important at his desk. He has lots of telephones. But he is not allowed to call up anybody.

WORLD AFFAIRS—

Sun's Son.

By Wm. Philip Simms

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13.—In the spring of 1921, at Yokohama, I was among the few foréigners per mitted to see the start of Emperor

his unprecedented trip around the world, In order to board the Japanese warship (I think it was the Matsu) out in the harbor, he first had to walk down a gangplank from the shore to a: decos rated float. 12-inch stepdown. His head in air, ‘eyes straight ahead, walking stiffly and trying his best to appear every inch (he’s not very 4all) the dignified Son of Heaven, he reached the stepdown before he knew it, Even: as you and I, of course, his head almost mapped off his shoulders. = His épectacles hung by an ear. And his cap (always too small) fell over his face where, with the most human of gestures, he caught it in both hands,

Without a Laugh * THEN THE god-emperor-to-be marched on. nobody tittered. Hirohito is anything but a warrior. He is ne intellectual giant, no political dictator, no Hitler, no Mussolini. On the contrary, he grew up a mamma's boy, shy, opposed to violence, cigarets and liquor, Hirohito is the 125th descendant in direct line from the sun, goddess, according to the Japanese. He is a god in his own right, is sacred and is the symbol of the national religion, in the belief of his subjects. Since B. O. they have been brought up on this symbolism. It is more-a part of them, therefore, than christianity is of us. Thus, ‘while Hirohito is no two-fisted, table-thumpe ing warlord, he is probably the most potent single influence in Nippon today.' But this can be for good as’ well as ill, depending on the influence behind him. If the powers that be in Tokyo are the Jap militarists, the rescripts he issues will be their rescripts. If, on the other hand, the allies occupy Tokyo, an imperial rescript might get law and order when nothing else short of a million troops would,

What to Do With a God? : THE TEAPOT tempest over whether or mot te hang the emperor by his toes as Tennessee's Senator Stewart suggested, seems largely due to a natural occidental misconception of the most oriental of institutions. Those with whom I have talked today mostly want a peace-loving, orderly Japan. Appare ently they were not very, excited about the form Nippon's government will take, so long as it is peacee ful. “After all, our allies are made up of republics, empires, kingdoms, Soviets and totalitarian dictan ‘torships. Here in Washington, therefore, those: who know

And

He ordered

and bespectacled: But he has tried almost every kind

reign | Translated it means “radiant

THE JAPS say the emperor is of divine descent

A replica is kept in the palace .

emperor lest his sunlike radiance blind. thém. When - he travels by train all blinds in houses along the -

it's dificult’ to make sure every last blind along &

The Japanese consider the emperor a deity, yet

the emperor, but when he was in Paris in the early

in practice he “advises” with the privy council on all |

Hirohito (then crown prince) on,

At the end of the gangplank was a

Seaman l-c We

Second Lt. R Mr. and Mrs, | Is in training tc at the Roswell i Mexico.

Lt. Carl Gere Jean Gerdts, 3 has been admit cent hospital treatment and On Mi Pharmacist's 5407 Carrollton from a tour o blimp squadro America.

Sgt. Lawrenc Rybolt st., is engineer on a tians. He is th Kar . MM Iq Piv,. » of the Manufacturing moted to the x

T. Sgt. John Mrs. Allene H. is stationed af Blackpool, Eng

5

LEFT

Grey favo!