Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 February 1947 — Page 7

THROUGH EVERY session of the Indiana senate [EES

sits a man of indeterminate age, foot on his desk,

hand cocked Behind one ear, who has become almost .

an “stitution” in that legislative body: ~~ * For years Senator Walter Vermillion (D, Anderson) ‘has had a front row desk in the senate because he's | hard of hearing. His friends, who know he asks no

quarter because of his handicap, insist laughingly that

: » i he can hear a lot better at some times than others primarily when they don’t want him to hear. : The Republican majority as well as the slender Rates . | Democratic minority of which he is the leader hold ' him in high regard as a lawyer and as a legislator. 's Best i He's brutally frank on every subject byt one—his age, y., Feb. 1.—Th Although “Who's Who in Indiana Politics” says he ost a Derby 1s 77 years old, his closest associates say that's probably the | “only a guess.” All he'll admit is that he was enter~ ball and not | ing politics just about the time President Cleveland iH I was getting out of it. . : aused by the to © One Republican colleague referred to the doubty £ the nation h | minority chief as “the fairest legislator I know.” t matches | He tells of this conversation which took place as the entucky ag Republican, who missed the explanation of a bill, e Armory, Ek asked Senator Vermillion about the measure: 1 first in virty “I'm a Democrat,” snapped the Anderson senator, de ratings wh “so I'm against it. If I were a Republican like you nked either sed I'd vote for it” winner undouk ‘© “7 felt perfectly .safe in voting for the bill,” sald nized as the na the Republican legislator. ies able" to. ob | Doesn't Miss a Thing

itness the gamed no telling he

hi of confidence.

* THE ATTITUDE of his own party members is one Despite “his deafness, they say, he

MINORITY LEADER — Sometimes legislative opponents think Walter Vermillion's deafness is merely convenient,

for the heaviest outlay of money in the history of Indiana state government. hy By way of appraising present legislative problems, Senator Vermillion feels the most important ones are those involving liquor, the budget, benefits for veterans and Increased salaries for teachers. He doesn't rate them necessarily in that order but fears the teachers’ pay increases will have the hardest sledding.

Election Act a Pet Peeve

ONE OF HIS pet peeves is the-1945 act placing municipal elections by themselves in odd years. He considers it bad economy if not bad politics and in a! recent hearing on the subject he thundered at

“Next. thing, youll want elections of township

He thinks nothing of roaring at the entire senate, then turning his back on the members and stomping back to his seat as though there were nothing more to be said on the matter. This air of finality in an argument is augmented by his known deafness. It will be lost on the fiery little Democrat, anyway. A personal friend who has known him “since I was a kid,” said the senator customarily turns his handicap to still another advantage—it gives him time to The friend described a courtroom meident] of some time ago when a young attorney, on the short end of an argument, walked off muttering something about the wily Vermillion under his breath. : Senator Vermillion, so the story went, tapped the otMer lawyer on the shoulder and remonstrated gently: “You shouldn’t say things like that about people.” (By Robert Bloem)

Method Raises Intelligence Quotient, Helps Them Toward Normal Life

By EDWIN

' : Times City Editor INDIANA HAS a 29-year-old woman who stands on the threshold

of becoming America’s beacon ligh in mental darkness.

She is Dr. Bernardine Genevieve Schmidt, a member of the faculty at Indiana Stat® Teachers college in downtown Terre Haute. Dr. Schmidt teaches feeble-minded children how to take useful

places in society and live like normal people instead of being forever doomed to spend their lives in mental institutions. A Times study into Dr. Schmidt's tremendous research in her laboratory at Terre Haute has disclosed that Indiana is the most backward state in the U. 8. in the teaching of feeble-minded children.

. =» INDIANA'S feeble-minded children have been allowed to grow up and become permanent inmates of institutions for the feeble-minded or asylums for the insane. Result of the absolute lack of any kind. of training for the feebleminded in Indiana's public schools accounts in part for the horrible overcrowding of the state's mental institutions, Dr. Schmidt disclosed. As part of her long range, nationwide program, a bill will be introduced into the Indiana legislature in the next few days. It will provide for the teaching of the feebleminded in the state’s public schools under Dr. Schmidt's system. Approved by Governor Gates, the bill will be passed as a Republican policy measure. ” # » \ ALSO, UNDER Dr. Schmidi's plan, Indiana will become the training ground for thousands of teachers to be sent throughout the United States and other countries. Bursting from relative obscurity, Dr. Schmidt’s light burns brightly.

~ He agreed it was worth that much money, but later’

She was one of thousands of other Oklahomans, frozen in their apartments, he added, “No heat?” queried Senator Tobey. “I will say,” replied the Rev. Mr. Murphy, “that the heat generated by the landlords helped keep things

tales of woe and it wasn't long before even Othman, | an old landlord baiter, was blinking back the tears.

There was Miss M. L. Pritchard, a rougeless lady In 8 |,.4ir6 Schmidt—sometimes called

brown suit with hat to match. She reported that she didn’t really get mad about rental cofiditions in Lans- | ing, Mich., until the rent director there (she named | him) moved into a house for $50 a month, “It was a beautiful home,” she said. “I was in it.

he changed his mind. He cut his own rent $15 a

She's a Landlady

WHEN SENATOR Tobey spied the handsome Mrs. | Margaret Springer of Detroit in a white wool dress and mink hat, he asked: “Are you a landlord?” : She said, no, she was a landlady, or would be if it weren't for the OPA. She rented out an apartment in her house for $16 a week. The OPA decided three years after approving the deal that it was worth only $8 and hauled her to court. The judge said the OPA was nuts, but the OPA had the last word. It lost the case, but it kept on the $8 ceiling. Mrs. Springer said ! she was keeping her apartment empty until the OPA

What's worrying her is that five government lawyers spent four months working up their case against her. As a taxpayer, she put up her share of their | wages and she doesn’t like it. “Would you?” she | demanded. The senators, who also paid part of the costs of OPA vs. Mrs. Springer, were sympathetic. {

come for a lool doesn’t miss a thing. heen During th, | The senator is a partisan in almost everything that scalped fc } comes up in the senate, but is quick to point out that an he's not a “personal partisan.” By that, he means Kentucky that “just because something's Republican isn’t reason Shes the gan enough to be against it.” - 1 victories in 1 “I take sides as a matter of principle,” he says. major, ators: t to Wisconsin’ { Outside of politics and his profession, he's also a jority seh ers and Purdue Methodist and an Elk. trustees by themselves.” lll risk a reco Despite his lofty reasons for partisanship, Senator 20 starts, Th Vermillion has stuck to his party through victory hands of power. and defeat throughout the years. He's seen it through M, 37-31, in other times when, like now, “they had nothing but at New Orleans courage.” He sincererly believes the Democrats vill ge win again by 1950 at least, because “the voters will do Dame has aver the right thing if they know the facts.” . 9 Ponts as i One of the most flery orators of the senate, he tries night to for to steer clear of personalities. When someone slams all toncen him, as occasionally happens, he takes a philosophic think. -handling an view. . *1- : If,” he says, “if what they technique th sai Lut wonder to myse say y Oklahoma : | Aggl He appraises his constituents and those of every surprise of K. other Hoosier senator as predominantly tax minded n, the Kentuek and takes a dim view of the Bacal pletufe in the Se alled their Sean rent session of the general assembly. His forecast is . , but Coach that confident ITI E=m== -~ Is a “wee bil . . w ae ron Discord in Quartet have an Ind a a — — — uckians, WASHINGTON, Feb. 1.—The OPA has been acs for Irish cused at one time or another of causing all the ills of etween the tw America, but I never expected it would be blamed. for wood since 1928 busting up harmonious relations between a preacher nine ¢ncounte; and his evangelical quartet. lo start his regu Ah me. If the government only had kept its warm.” Tingle and Jo troublemakers out of the Glenpool Grace church and ot-3 at forw the Amazing Grace Rescue mission, the Rev. Wellace 1, at center, J. Murphy wouldn't have had to desert his flock in Capt. Kennel Tulsa, Okla, to plead with the U. Sxsenate for a little less government in evangelisfn. hoe art at 8 p. m The Rev. Mr. Murphy, a tall, thin citizen with gray . Station WHO hair, rimless eyeglasses, a small black mustache and : a red and white necktie, also is a landlord. That is of where his OPA troubles started. = Tonight He owned a house, When Tulsa became a boom town, he felt he'd be doing less than his duty to his p Front fellow man if he didn’t turn the upstairs into an month.” : 1 (U. P).—Th apartment for war workers. vho began whizz, “So four young ladies moved in,” he told the ay for the firs genate banking and currency committee. “Nice young they whipp ladies. I was the minister, yes, and the pappy. My k-end, face th: wife was the hostess and the nurse. The girls sang in m Ohio Statd my evangelistic quartet. We were living in harmony. s tonight to de Then came the OPA. The first thing it did was post ey can continu! a sign: ‘Don’t Let Your Landlord Cheat You’, ; “ Lid ben ‘What's That Again? 1's revived five “WHAT?” demanded Senator Charles W. Tobey Minneapolis ir| (R. N. H), chairman of the committee which is little to do with .wondering ‘whether rents should be boosted and if so, dings: 1 how much, a : saw the light. 4 het “Yes sir,” the Rev. Mr. Murphy said, “that is whit 1 10 the sign said. This led to suspicion and talk. There ; Mo were calls from OPA people and it wasn't long hefore 3 300 by tenants withdrew from the church. They quit 3 a singing in my quartet. Three of them moved out. The 3 Fs fourth wouldn't move out. The OPA upheld her. imes i — —,S€$€YY—Y S —_e—e—"—— wee want basketball . ‘ hat have floors Barrymore Was There By Erskine Johnson ldon, . Franklii ? as

HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 1—John Payne is due for surgery on his left knee as soon as he completes work in “It's Only Human.” He banged it up while playing football for an AAF team during the war. Ed (Archie) Gardner earned $20,000 for a week of - personal appearances in New York, Ten years | ago he was working for WPA there. ~The atomic age has reached the entertainment world. A new theater in Long Beach, Cal, features a floor vacuum which cleans the dirt from patrons’ shoes as they enter. Director William Dieterle says he’s serious about doing an entire film, starring George Tobias, without fabricated sets. He'll shoot the picture in New York's Central Park, in Fifth avenue homes, in real clubs and restaurants.

English Plan Competition

ENGLISH FILM studios are planning to compete with Hollywood in the hoss-opera field. As Don Lawe says, it will be quite a novelty to see the British cowboys grasping a six-shooter with the little finger daintily outstretched. ; Sonny Tufts, who gets a change of pace as the no-good heel in “Swell Guy,” tells us he's tired of playing roles where he's a big, good-natured door- ' mat that. everybody walks over. He wants to be a tough guy and is trying to interest Paramount in a story in which he would play a bank robber. Dennis Day has the inside track on the role Kenny Baker created on the stage, in the film version of. “One Touch of Venus” , , , M-G-M is

TION

all gue

SKYS

USE . M.

ISION, 85¢

r——

We, the Women

———

a ——— ALL RIGHT, we the women, Let's shut ou. eyes for a few minutes and picture that wholly masculine world Liam O'Flaherty, Irish novelist, had in mind when he recently told an Interviewer: “The best . idea I ever heard was to wipe out all the women in the world. Then man could stop workifig entirely. There is plenty of food and drink left for all of us

until we die.” Okay, let's wipe out all the women—mentally, that ‘is. Then let's sneak back to earth after a year's

ILS | Y [. VEN

anine

thinking about turnip Vera Vague into a feminine Bob Benchley for a series of comedy shorts. = Howard Hughes’ latest film discovery is a handsome, 27-year-old actor from the Broadway stage, Donald Buka. He'll get a big Hughes buildup in “Vendetta.” . While Clark Gable was on a prewar South American vacation his plane made a forced landing in a little God-forsaken seaport town. He was met at the airport by the local theater manager, who insisted that Clark make a personal appearance on his stage for the benefit of the natives. “But I'm on a vacation,” protested Clark. “And besides, those natives don’t give a darn about movie stars. They've probably never seen one.”

- At Least One Did

“OH, YES, they have,” said the theater manager. “All the stars who visit here make personal appearances for me.” Then he blushed a little and said, “Well, one did. He was here for a day once, on his yacht.” “Who?” asked Clark, incredulous because of the remoteness of the place, far from the main ship, rail and plane routes. The theater manager pulled a photograph from his pocket and said, “Look!” Clark looked. He saw a picture of the theater manager standing beside & shirtless man in a pea jacket, dirty white shorts and a heavy beard. “I don’t recognize him in that beard,” said Clark. “My audience did,” said the theater man, reverently. “His name was John Barrymore.” NCTE

By Ruth Millet

on TE

clothes (not all the men would settle for the tropics),

stacks, of unwashed dishes (men discovered In the army, when they had all their food dumped on a tray, that they like to eat out of dishes), thousands of dreary, uncared-for houses, etc.

No Dream World

AND THE MEN? What would they be doing? Why boring one another to death, of course. Without a woman to be important to, they'd have to try to look important to each other,

)

By Frederick C. Othman |

President Ralph Tirey and trustees Other landlords with other troubles also told their | . op college.

{special educational treatment.

Already she is attracting national ‘and international attention.

{building are four big folders bulging ‘with letters from more than 400 | American teachers, awaiting instructjon under her system at Indiana State Teachers College. An expansion of facilities within the next- year to take care of this overflow has been approved by

” n= THE FAIRY tale story of Bern-

“Doc,” other times Bernardine by her students—starfed in Chicago. As a. child prodigy of 13 years of age, she began to teach the mentally handicapped. : Because she had advanced rapidly through grade school, skipping grades, she already was a student at Chicago Teachers college. Needing money, she also noticed that feebleminded children were getting no

“I needed them and they needed me,” said Dr. Schmidt. Dr. Schmidt taught these neighborhood children in Chicago's northwest side until she was 15. She went on to teach in Chicago's public schools, thence to DePauw uni-

In her room at the Student Union’

Feeble-minded children have initiative. that initiative and see what would happen.

versity where she toook her‘master’s

‘Itchin’ to

Hoosier Forges Becoming Rarer;

There Used to Be 107

By BARTON REES POGUE Under the spreading chestnut tree ‘ The smithy no longer stands . . .

THE CAMBRIDGE, MASS., SMITHY is gone. chestnut tree is gone. Only an engraved stone marks the place where Longfellow’s mighty man once pumped the

bellows of his forge.

Hoosier smiths and their shops are passing too. Though there are plowshares to sharpen, horses to shoe, sickles to

grind, and thousands of pieces of farm machinery to weld 'the number of men who do |that sort of thing grows less and | less. | I wondered how many smiths (there might be in Indiana, so I went to the W. J. Holliday & Co. plant in Indianapolis. Mr. Holliday began selling blacksimth supplies at |34 E. Washington st. The Washing{ton hotel stands where he was in business in 1861. | At the present plant on W. Mc- | Carty st. I met George Stalker, who 'told me they used to sell to a thousand Indiana blacksmiths, Smiths have been reduced so in numbers that their accounts of the present ‘do not show more than a dozen purchasers. Mr. Stalker introduced me to F. {Colwell ‘of Indianapolis, and L. 8. Shutt of Manila, Ind. Mr, Shutt is one of the younger generation of blacksmiths. a. 8 # i MR. COLWELL, now retired, recalled that in 1897 there were 107 | blacksmith shops in = Indianapolis. | Today there is' one. | These artisans, still necessary in sur economy, also has been reduced lin numbers. And very few young men are learning the trade.: Of the smiths still on the Job Uncle Bob Coolman of: Thorntown [is the dean (if blacksmiths have deans), Mr. Coolman is 82 years old, and has been a smith for 72 of “those years. ~ ! In busy seasons he work¥ from |6 in the morning till 6 at night, ‘hough he admits he has to sit down once in ‘a while. At one

‘lened it? No they hadn't gotten to

C. HEINKE

t in the world of those who live

{ 3

degree. She took her doctor's degree at Northwestern university and wrote the thesis that later was to attract international attention. :"» SHE WENT back into the Chicago schools. Then alert President Tirey at Indiana State Teachers heard about her and asked her to join his faculty. Heretoforg there were two “gystems” of teaching the feebleminded. One was the “constant drill” system in which the child is taught to do the same thing over and over again. The other is the teaching of handicraft. Both systems serve ~only to occupy the patient’s waking hours. Dr. Schmidt's “method” is a “common sense method” in which, contrary to the views of most educators, feeble-minded children are actually advanced in intellect. Dr, Schmidt explained: “We simply teach the children how to do things for themselves. It makes sense to us. # ” ” . “FROM THE scientific world, parents of feeble-minded children get the idea that you have just what intelligence God gives you. Nothing can be added to it. We think that is nonsense. We believe that God helps those who help themselves and we started out with the idea of helping these children to help themselves. “Parents do nothing except to make things easier for these children. They pity them and love them. They have been taught that ‘pressing’ the children into doing something will result only in strain and harm. “That, too, is nonsense. “When normal children learn to talk and walk and do things, they do them on their own initiative. no We set out to supply

“The results were startling.” 2, 8 2 : THE “RESULTS” were contained in Dr. Schmidt's thesis which is now attracting world-wide attention. The thesis will be published | in a book within several weeks, At Northwestern, Dr. Schmidt took 254 feeble-minded children. Their intelligence quotients ranged form 27 to 69. The average was 51. | Feeble-mindedness is indicated by any quotient below 70. At the end of a three-year Instruction period and a five-year; follow-up period (ending in 1943), the average I. Q. was raised to between 93 and 94. The low was 57. | The high was 110. Before the ludy) started, each student was a patient

Drop Dow

in Indianapolis

The

smithy at Upland, without the shade of a chestnut tree. But not without his nickname, “Jerry.” In 1913 he joined his brother Bruce in the shop. Bruce now drives an ofl truck,

Summer and winter, sunshine and shade, you can hear the ting, ting, ting and the tong, tong, tong of Jerry’s hammer on his anvil. Besides being a whale of a good smith, Jerry Oren is a down-to-earth philosopher. He ddes a world of work, but he doesn’t aim for anyone to push him around. I have never seen him rush. He takes life easy, Hardly ever is he so busy he will not stop to tell one of his fishing or hunting stories. He even listens good to the yarns his customers tell. ” » » WALTER JONES was in the other day with a piece to be welded. I don't know if Walter was in a hurry or not. He didn’t say. It wouldn't have done him a particle of good to say he was in a hurry. Jerry stood there for 15 minutes telling us about his Irish Setter. The woist dog: he ever owned, he says. People who get mad because he will not rush do not worry him at all. Last summer a stranger brought a mower sickle into the shop. He stood it against the wall and remarked that he would be back for it shortly. When he returned the sickle was right where he had left it. Hadn't they sharp-

ana institutions,

Indiana Teacher Br To Feeble-Minded ¢

study, 93 per cent took their normal places in society.

” ” » LIKE CHILDREN now “in Indisome of Dr, Schmidt's charges could neither walk or talk. Se . Her method of teaching enabled them eventually to talk and walk. “Everything: was based on com-

mon sense. Everything seemed so

simple. “When the children came to school helpless, we taught them to button or unbutton their overcoats, how to zip or unfasten their galoshes, how to tie their shoe laces, how to fasten their leggings and shawls, They never had been shown how before. Somebody: did it for them. Eventually they became able to dress and undress themselves. “We taught them how to walk, how to overcome their shyness and talk, a word at a time, until they become fluent.

o » Eg : “WE TAUGHT the children how to become helpful, how to prepare their own meals, to clear off the

table, cook simple things, how to

prepare simple shopping lists and go to market, how to answer telephones, deliver messages, open doors, talk to people—all the. little things in life. : “Somewhere along the line, the ‘initiative’ germ took root and the children started’ to advance intellectually.” The majority of the girls in the study married and had normal babies. These young mothers, also the young men who are working in every day normal pursuits, keep up constant correspondence with their benefactor, i They regard her with adoration even though Bernardine Schmidt is young enough to pass as another coed on the State Teachers college campus.

FRIEND IN NEED—Dr. Bernardine Schmidt

Teachers college.

Evelyn, Child Who Was Frightened, Forgets Her Fear and Begins fo Learn Story of One Pupil Whose Mind abr gaa]

Flowered Under Dr. Schmidt's Teaching

EVELYN was a child, who, like hundreds of other feeble-minded

mental institution. - This is the story of Evelyn, as

children, was destined to spend her life in an over-crowded Indiana

related by Indiana State Teachers

college's Dr. Bernardiné Genevieve Schmidt, 29-year-old educator.

When Evelyn came to Dr. Schmidt, the child had an I. Q. of 3.

Below 70, a person is feeble-minded. | {ing to do ‘except 1ét ‘her watch. : take her

Said Dr. Schmidt: “When Evelyn came ghe Was

Possibly, rightfully timid. There seemed attention. |nothing we could-do about it. She

stared at the floor and refused to look up. She wouldn't talk. She

(wouldn't tell us her name. Her hair |was matted and stringy. Her clothes | Evelyn went and got them on her

And: £ : - “One day she stood in the door- | way of the cloakroom, watching. | One of the girls called to someone that she needed some thumbtacks.

were dirty. She sat and. brooded | own accord. Then Evelyn began

or hid under tables—any ‘place she, could find. She liked to hide in the cloakroom, stay there for hours, » ” ” “WE DECIDED there was noth-

n at Oren’s Blacksmith

MANY A TIME I have seen him dust the iron scales off his anvil with his leather apron, and perch there while he told an interesting hunting or fishing story. Years ago he had a checker board, and often stopped work to take on some customer who thought he could beat the blacksmith. Last May he ‘went with Pat Monahan to Reelfoot lake on a week's fishing trip. In July he joined Monahan, Joe Jack and myself on a trip to Pine river. October found him and Monahan in the Dakota pheasant country. During the local bird season he will leave the shop most any afternoon to follow the dogs. » # rn I DON'T want you or my friend Oren to get the idea that I think Jerry doesn't work, ‘or that he is lazy. He is a philosopher, who has built his own system of thought for living. He says to ‘me, “Bart, I can't see no sense of -hammerin’ all the time.

SILLY NOTIONS

to make herself useful in- little things. We helped, but didn’t make it noticeable to Evelyn. She started to make simple drawings. One day she started to read but promptly

We only live once, and it don't seem jist right not to have a little fun as we go along.” If the day is rainy the boys will be there, And jes the same if the day is fair. If the day is cold or sizzlin’ hot A dozen or so, like as not, Will be settin’® around on boxes and kegs— Any old thing to favor their legs," vv‘ Why, you've not been to town unless you stop Down “to Oren’s blacksmith shop!

He has two chairs with uncertain seats, And two sawhorses that lay little pleats In bottoms that have no more regard

By Palumbo

it. He grabbed up his property and

rs fe 20

‘Shop Than to sit i Something 50

split in two Ci On an auto bumper than n what they do fa To the politicians and the turnip crop, La Down to Oren’s blacksmith shop! Us hata

There are mowers and sickles layin’ around, =

There are plowshares to beat,

and held, i But he lets ‘em lay, with i quaint words, He “I'm ’way behind on my huntin’ fer birds.” Maybe the snapper can fia ; ; 8 en's blacksmith

| Other times he stops his fe

for a tale or two, A-fillin’ his pipe — he did chew— i And play by play he to the spot

mE Orders g panishment for a quick look afoura, ; ..., © ‘That world would be such a mess, Mr. O'Flaherty, time last spring 515 plow-points lay |stalked out. At the door be made a| >. an’ + + Happy Men? “that any woman able to sneak a look at it would run on the floor of his shop. broken exit,’ as we call it in the he oui WHAT D 2. Wovold ort back to oblivion. ; | Uncle Bob claims he has sharp-{ theater. Be iit hack ol ; or 2 a y . WH 0 we see? . A world of happy. men, free It's bad ‘enough for a woman to come home after ened over 195000 points in. his 72 “I'll never bring anything bac A : ! “0 | this place again,” he yelled, “pO YOU HAVE. ANYTHING EXTRA

a week's vacation to the clutter one lone man has years of smithing. made. Just multiply that confusion by all the men nim.» in the world, and you get a vivid picture of Mr. BUT MY village blacksmith is O'Flaherty’s dream world, A ‘ Warren Oren, 33 yeats "in the

FET

at last of women, able to eat, drink and be merry | all day long and completely happy in their woman- , less world? ky 1 likely. We'd probably see mows of dirty

“That's exactly what I want you M ONLY GOING TO THE TENT ao. mister,” was Jerry's calm “ oy FRE

ats, 60¢ |

Not 2-1

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