Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 May 1948 — Page 19

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pretty smug. My guess is. that

~ the medals which

. data and other information we read after the comics, I want to make a contribution. I have investigated the longevity of a cigaret butt on a sidewalk: Interested? 3 : It" was quite a problem to establish a norm from “which to Wark. - There was = question. of weather, place and time,, Everything had to be right, especially the Aather. There's no use picking. & bad-day to goldbrick-a few hours away. Understand, if it were necessary to spend the time in a driving wind or rainstorm, I'd do it, put in this case a warm, sunny and lazy day suited my mood perfectly, The site for my statistic-gathering on the lowly cigaret butt was on the north side of W, washington. 8t. Just off’ Illinois 8t.-I'd better add. It's a busy corner and windy enough to “give some action to the project. EN

Plenty of Near Misses

THE FAGS I discard usually run from about an inch to—about an inch ‘will do, On busy sidewalks a man seldom steps on butts he throws away. That's exactly the way my project started. 1 was careful to throw the butt in the center

ofthe sidewalk. A genjls toss. It wasn't any of-

those vigorous fliffs you see so often. Of course, 1 made sure there wasn't anyone around that looked like they would snipe it. Offhand, it isn't an exaggeration either, 15 pedestrians passed over my cigaret before it was moved. Not stepped on, moved. I was glad I

smoked the “slower burning” brand. The wind pushed it eastward about two feet in 5 minutes before a lady nicked it in the center. That was a telling blow, too, because the paper split.

TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP—It takes two hours and 20 minutes for pedestrians to trample a cigaret butt on a busy downtown sidewalk. You didn't know that, did you?

Dear Airlines:

" NEW YORK, May 14—Abandoning my characteristic surliness, as the unpaid watchdog of American transportation, I would like to write a mash note to the airlines. We have feuded in the past-dear-airlines, but today my heart is yours. I don’t know what's come over the fly-folks in the last year or so. It's been so long since they gave me- a bad time that. it's fo remember the early post-war days of erratic Schedules, surly clerks, and odd little doings in the reservation departments. I haven't even been stacked up in a landing circle in more than a year, The reform of the airline, in that it quit whining about all its internal troubles and started making purposeful passes at the customers, is something of a vindication of the early, strident criticism that was tossed at the lines. I suspect some millions of potential passengers weve lost during that period of blithe disregard of customer satisfaction. There was a general air that the passenger was lucky to be ticketed at all, and could bloody well put up with any little inconveniences that happened all along. This was possibly a normal carryover from

.the war, when the lines operated at top capacity

by government assurance—and the priority was necessary for flight. It. naturally made the boys they thought they had it all sewed up, and operative reform could dribble along at the companies’ leisure, °

‘Madhouse’ Days Are Gone

THE DELAYS, the general air of madhouse in the terminals, the inefficient clerks, the refusal to accept full responsibility for the passengers’ welfare, in case of schedule interruptions—all seem to have evaporated. The companies are so chummy with the cus-

..tomers. now it's almost. embarrassing. They. give

you the rundown on the operation, they answer the unspoken queries of the unseasoned passen-

Liquid Assets

WASHINGTON, May 14—Let us join Congress today in dismayed contemplatiori of Uncle Sam--uel's liquid—haw! haw! haw—assets. The Demon Rum has got Uncle under the table.

ago tS0E ThA he. drinks. the, stuff, you understand...

He distills it by the hundreds of thousands of gallons, bottles it under his registered trademark, Government House Rum--and tries in: vain to get his. otherwise .Joyal.citizens. to drink .it.. .. The evidence before the House Appropriations Subcommittee indicates that the people will fight in Uncle's armies, buy his bonds, and pay his taxes. But they won't guzzle his rum. This salubrious fluid: (I'm quoting Government House Rum ads) is piling up, kég upon keg, at Uncle's distilleries. And his Virgin Islands Co.—which runs the Bluebeard Castle Hotel and grows sugar cane in addition to making the rum that lubricates a human gullet—is on the verge of bankruptcy. A sad tale the governor of the Virgin Islands, the president of the rum company, and the head men of the Interior Department had to tell the committee. They want $7,700,000 to polish up the islands, the rum factory and the Bluebeard Hotel in hope that maybe they can make a profit. If that comes to pass, according to their dreams, private business may bail Uncle out of the liquor traffic.

One Year They Made a Profit

FOR EIGHT long years the Interior Department, which owns the Virgin Islands Co., has been trying to peddle its rum distillery to somebody else. “Because of criticism back home that the government ought not to be fn the rum business,” explained Chief Counsel Irwin Silverman. One year during the war, when there was a Whisky-making holiday, Uncle turned up a $440, 000 profit on his rum, Mr. Silverman said. ! Not that he's proud of this. The people don't actually drink the stuff. That was the year of tie-in liquor sales. In order to get one case of

The Quiz Master

Was Paul Bunyan an American soldier or a legendary figure? i He was a legendary hero of tales of the lum'r camps throughout the west. ¥ : ¢ * ° What goverriment department manufactures are awarded to members of the Armed services? fi :

... UU, 8. mints manufacture memorial coins and Medals when so authorised by Congress. .

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“taking the liberty of calling it an experiment. It

. By Ed Sovola

It was incredible how many near misses there were. An observer would be inclined to think citizens purposely avoided : stepping shorties. That's ridiculous-and it can De proved by watching the faces of thie people. - Half of the citizens on the sidewalk are usually engrossed in their own thoughts, another quarter are jabbering to their companions and the Test gawk around aimlessly. I imagine that ever Since the advent of shoes for daily wear, we have been gettiig away from watching where we step. In case you are wondering how long it takes before a snipe cannot be sniped, I'd say about nine minutes would be the average. ¥ In a half hour's time the cigaret butt was sto ‘on 10 times. I'm npt counting the times it was touched or happened to get between the heel and the sole of a shoe, : The fine part about having it flattened is. that the wind has a harder time moving it. On a nice

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SECOND SECTION ~_ FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1048 re

Leroy A. Wilson Head Of AT&T. Welcomed

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ome At Terre Haute

Picture Story by Victor Peterson ¥

day I'd much rather lean against a building and watch than run around chasing after a snipe, It’s fascinating to think that you're probably the only guy in the world who has conducted a test of this sort. When anyone looks at you holding up a building you don't feel guilty. It's not like loafing or fooling your time away. To De| sure, finding the longevity of a cigaret butt isn't| -&-great project, probably won't be included in the World Almanac, but it's a good thing to Know. | My contribution to the statistics of the world is as good as the one I read recently. I don’t feel particularly brighter that I learned the shortest, safest navigable distance from New York City to Salaverry, Peru, was 3127 miles (via Panama

Canal). But it's something to keep in the back of one’s bonnet,

Now You Have Authentic Facts

WELL, ANYWAY, my snipe was flattened in| an hour. A self-respecting sniper would not have bothered. with. it... I -had to. deviate from original intention slightly as a matter of expediency. With the tip of my shoe I moved the snipe into heavier traffic. This action shouldn't affect the over-all time element too much. The law of averages and the law of statistical regularity will take care of such things anyway—so why not help them along. y . At the two-hour mark, frankly, I was getting mighty tired of conducting my experiment. I'm

was quite a temptation to walk out on the sidewalk and trample it to smithereens. must be factual.

Twenty minutes later my snipe was no more. The paper blew into a gutter and the tobacco blended into the sidewalk. I wasn't in the mood to find out how long it took for the paper to dis: appear, * : It anyone asks you, my friend, how long it takes for a snipe to get trampled on a busy sidewalk, just say with reasonable assurance that the answer is accurate, “Two hours and 20 minutes.” That's a fact. ;

However, we

| | 3

reese By. Robert <. Ruark i |

ger—and they have begun to get them up and get) them down on time, with the exception of weather! intervention and motor failure. . | In the single recent instance of my being over=| flown a few hundred miles because-of w he! they practically sinothéred me with considerate care. Brother, there was a day when they just told you to get off and walk if you didn't like. it.

Now They're Long on Courtesy

THE LINES will tell you that it took a couple of years to shake out a lot of the bugs; that the ground personnel was raw and often inefficient! and sometimes prone to racketeer a little bit. | They say things like “. . , difficulties with ex-| panding service,” and such stuff. That is true, in| a measure, but what brought about such a fast streamlining was nothing but old man desperation. ’ Literally millions of new customers, old customers, and potential customers were saying never again, and turning their patronage to the| trains. The papers were full of grisly wrecks, The schedules were ragged and the foulups frequent. The trains were pointing fingers and hollering “Yah, yah, yah, don’t ride it, it ain't safe.” Abroad, the government-financed chosen instruments were running schedules right on the

dot, trading in courtesy and honeying up. to. the|.

American overseas trade. Most of our lines were having big finance trouble. The little wildcat outfits were biting into domestic business, First the Constellations got grounded, and then it was the DC-8s. The big companies had to make a fast pass at the customer, or lose him forever, and they completed the pass. The trains, I think, can pick up a few pointers today from airline efficiency, and certainly “they can absorb-some of the courtesy, .... Pear. little. airline, I love you since you've changed your ways. I'm not even scared to ride | you any more. |

By Frederick C. Othman,

whisky, said Mr. Silverman, a dealer had to buy! three or four cases of rum. } Temporarily Uncle cleaned up. But now the) liquor boys still are trying to get rid of their, Jnwanted. rum. stocks—and they. aren't. buying, any more. “So you are in a position of a company approaching insolvency?” asked Rep. Frederic C. Coudert Ir, of New York, rope, “Wel,” testified Mason Barr of the Interior Department's rum division, “our assets are largely of a liquid character.” i

Keep the Business in the Family |

THE LAWGIVERS smiled sourly at this wan witticism and asked Mr. Barr why he hadn't borrowed some ready cash on his assets? He said he had. The only bank in the Virgin Islands, however, had a low opinion of rum as, a com- | modity and would give him only 50 cents a gallon on ft. “A very conservative institution,” Mr. Barr sald. . James P. Davis, another Interior Department big-wig, offered the hopeful observation that in| the years the Interidr Department has been los-| ing money on manufacturing rum, the Treasury

Department has been collecting heavy taxes on|-

it, More than $25,000,000 worth, he added, or at| _ least as much as the islands cost us in the first But er acll place when we bought 'em from Denmark.

This, retorted Rep. Coudert, was a punk argument. If the Interior Department hadn't been

bottling rum, somebody else would have got the

onto its share, anyhow, he said. | The moral, I suppose, is that if you're going to lap up the stuff with alcohol in it, keep the

House Rum. I never thought I'd be writing -free advertisements like this for the liquor trade—but as a| taxpayer it seems to be my duty. .

iv { y ‘day after a long illness, She was 1 WANNA ere ie st Tiatvar | William Hofr, 914 Sanders St. ex- senior vesper service will be held, widow of the late president] B66 WHAT business in the family and drink Government, Professors will be held at plained, “just a big cake with gold at 3 p. m, May 23, on ¢ jot Wells Fargo Co. maxes 50 p. m. Wednesday in the leaves and some ice cream.” ~ |®chool's campus with Dr. Jean 8. Mrs, Caldwell, who was born in| TALK?

??? Test Your Skill ???

How does the U.S, rank in population among the countries of the world? . ‘ The United States ranks fourth. . Approxiv

» baugh, superintendent of public ter, Mrs. Ruth Quack, her hus- Frederic Barker, -carillonneur,| New YORK, May 14 (UP)- se So FRE, schools, and President M. O. Ross hand, Lester; arid their two daugh- and Louise Swan, organist.” Sen- {¥e0rge Lynch, 24, was held in nit, cow, of Butler. - Dr. James H. Peeling, tery, the Misses Doris and Delores for class members taking part in'$10,000 bail for grand fury action :

3 Soviet. Union, 193,000,000. * {

; * 4 0 - "What Civil War general wrote a best-selling

novel? |E. Kennington Post No. 34, Amer-| A bit shy about his age, Mr.ithe senior sponsors. She is as-|peared in court with both dyes any charged forms timers Soqeart ; "Lew Wallace, who wrote “Ben Hur.” Wal ican Legion, will be held from 9 Hoff boasts he has been a reader sisted by Leunice Horne, Frances blackened and walking with a|*inger Ol te Uy) lm face volunteered early in the Civil War and rose [p. m. to 12 midnight today in the of The Times since the days of the Kinsley, Irens Rhodes, Lois Sink, limp, to hear charges that Lynch|trems crueity in a divorce suit : from a Heutenancy to the command of a corps. Whart House in Ravenswood. old Indianapolis Sum... yi Alta Welch and Mona Woodward.|“made a whipping post of her.”|to end their 10-year marriage. ¢ ; ire 7 PR = ‘ t ’ v hae S > i ‘ ; a ; ht »: 4 py v Rain z : Fy a 0 L i 4 ; 5

lans Dinne business and the Treasury would have orion P dls inner

6: school Lafeteria: - -

/ |Batl, dean of the college of edu- wedding anniversary of Mr, Hoff principal address. cation ‘and director of university

| college. presidency of the University of Omaha this summer, i

chapter president, will be toast- Quack, attended. mately, Ching has 430,000,000; Union of India, Master: 298,000,000

LEGION POST SETS PARTY

THROUGH THESE DOORS—Mr. Wilson and his family rushed from one locale to another about Terre Haute, attempting to visit as many scenes of his youth as possible. A select delegation of Garfield High School students received the now famous alumnus. Leroy Wilson Day was sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, Garfield High School and Rose Polytechnic | Institute, from which he graduated in 1922. In a special convocation at the Institute, Rose-Poly-conferred-upon him an honorary degree.

START OF A BUSY DAY —Terre Haute put on a big welcome yesterday for one of its most honored sons, It was "Homecoming" for Leroy A. Wilson. He recently was named president.of the American Telephone and Telegraph. Co. just a few days before his 47th birthday. With him to. share the tribute were his wife, formerly a telephone operator at Marion, Ind.; his daughter, Shirley, and his father, Garrett Wilson. Miss Wilson traveled. from Florida to join her parents. Here, like any father, the president of one of the world's greatest firms hustles his daughtér's baggage in the absence of a porter.

Rano fo A LIVING SYMBOL — On invitation of Miss Amanda Lotze, principal of the | W. S. Rea Grade School, Mr. Wilson made a special visit to his sixth grade class room and sat at his old desk. His appearance created a sensation. In her excitement, Miss Lotze rang the fire alarm belt when she meant to flick a fight switch. The entire student body obediently filed out. The mistake was a lucky break for the youngsters, however, as Mr. Wilson then spoke to them briefly from the school steps. = =

MAN OF VISION — There never is a lack of subject matter to discuss when Mr. Wilson (left) meets Fred Thomas, former assistant to the president of the Indiana Bell Telephone Co., Indianapolis. Yesterday was uo satisfying one for Mr.- Thomas. -in-1918; he discovered Mr. Wilson as an undergraduate at Rose Poly. He followed his collegiate career and brought him into the Bell system on graduation.

DO YOU REMEMBER?—That question started many an anecdote when Mr. Wilton got off in a corner with four of his college classmates. The laughs that followed were evidence that the days of youth had been happy ones. In this reunion of buddies are (left. to right) Hubert L. Wilson, R. K. Price, Sterling MH. Pittman, all of Terre Haute, Mr. Wilson and Henry Offutt, Louisville, Ky. A civic dinner in the Terre Haute House ended the festivities. I ——————

AT THEIR FEET—Twenty-six years ago Mr. Wilson said goodby to Rose Poly. He carried with him, and oof fo good use, the teachings of these men who still are members of the faculty. They, as part of the school, are responsible for the training which brought him to his present position, he said. Shown are (left to right) Carl Wischmeyer, John White, C. P. Sousley, Mr. Wilson, C. C. Knipmeyer, Donald B. Prentice, president, and O. L. Stock.

| J . | OR 3, \With . Family Fete Vesper Service |Mrs. Sallie Bowman Caldwell, 85,

who returned to college when she) ‘ A SA A SR SA , ’ y od The annual dinner of the But- .wp DIDN'T HAVE a party,”| Technical High School's annual Was more than 75, died Wednes-|

$2 for your ideas we print. Write Jory] | +. Langell ¢/0 The Indianapolis Times .

‘Milner, pastor of the Second Pres- Greencastle, Ind. enrolled as a He was referring to the family | | ' byterian Church, delivering the Sophomore at Upsala College here The dinner will honor Dr. P. M.| celebration that marked the 50th PYte u Han : 5 (in 1939, Bhe took part in much

. lof the undergraduate life, and his wife, Emma, in their hoffie Anderson, principal, will preside. | s wndergradu

Tuesday evening. |

The school choir will sing un-| . A CLOCK... FOR sa 8 8 der the direction of J. Russel Bail Set for Stepfather | A SOAETERS BD Bw BECAUSE OF Mrs. Hoff's un- Paxton. Other faculty members Accused in Beating |} 6PpKE uP. TIME WHEN

Speakers will.be Virgil Btine- cortain health, only their daugh- appearing on the program will be| B UP... A POR To!

He is to assume the

SUIT CHARGES CRUELTY SAN BERNARDINO, Cal, May 14 (UP)~-Actor Edward Arsiold

the program will be Carol F, today-for. punching and beating Mr. Hoff, who has lived here 70 Moir, organist, and Charles R. his 6-year-old stepdaughter beyears; is the oldest resident in his Montgomery, who will- play cause she couldn't remember her comritifiity. He has lived in the chimes. * birthday. il » The spring party of the Robert same house for 49 years, | Margaret Axtell is chairman of| - The chid, Betty Knowlden, ap-