Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 September 1948 — Page 14

olis Times

"LECKRONE HENRY W. MANZ

1ig iron. But doubtless s esult.

unted as bargaining talk. There also may be a desire to ret out of the none-too-profitable production of foundry ome* serious dislocations would

- Republic itself precipitated the situation by notifying 7ar assets it intended to shut down the Cleveland plant \ug. 31. It now appears Republic didn’t quite mean that,

ut really wanted the plant on better terms.

ia one plant. : Y Transition

“ew

ading industry

ll TE

Without regard to the merits of the controversy, the ituation illustrates some of the difficulties that can arise ‘then’ public and private business have to be unscrambled

of an entire ifidustry from public back to ‘ndividual ‘private ownership might. involve more strains Shan the economy of a country could stand.

ood Old Uncle Sugar though it was not enough for the government to be wasting millions of the taxpayers’ dollars to hold up .. ‘and potato prices, the Farm Credit Administration is

fireparing to advance $4 million to bail out—of all things— silver fox “industry.”

But don't blame the agency. It's only carrying out the ctions of Congress, and a Republican Congress at

* "This so-called industry was one of those get-rich-quick sinesses. Years ago when a silver fox was a rarity, a pper who bagged one could collect several hundred dolfor a pelt. So the animal was domesticated and the r promoters who got in an the ground floor sold breedstock at fabulous prices, But prices dropped as supply

os ato the Jowest in 30 years, less than $17

te banks stopped making loans to silver fox farm.

high price of horse meat threatened to put foxes on a vegetarian diet. Officials of the stration admit their loans will be “very r way of saying we are buying a lot

In Tune With the Times

Barton Rees Pogue

THE BULLDOG HAS MANY VIRTUES The bulldog was really bullt to hang on. His

whack Now, I like hymns, not at night, Especially hymns from that little sprite! To catch a man, when that man is prone, And then begin that portentous drone 1s the height of ill manners, of such distress it should be ended with fine finesse! after tolling for sleep, @ Counting “pink puppies, and little white sheep,” I le here and wait till the honeyed brute lights, And whack him before he gets his ten bites! * : ~BARTON REES POGUE, Upland. ¢ %

THE MEAN MOSQUITO

Perky little pest . .. Always in quest , . » Ravenous guest!

Brings all his kin . . Drills go in . . begin!

Pumps Feeds on pelt . +» Leaves a welt . , Where he dwelt! : MILDRED C. YOUNG, Indianapolis. ; 00 What we want to know is who has been grindstones out where mosquitoes can

ly name, 1 think of orchids . By that wind and crook, When

FOREIGN .... hry Europe Prepares For Federal Plan

By “William Philip. Simms

~~ WASHINGTON, Sept. 1—A preliminary Con-

gress for a United States of Europe will meet today at Interlaken, Switzerland. .. While it will not represent the governments themselves, it will be made up of members of

| parliament from all the nations between the

Soviet area and the Pyrenees. ~The main object of the Congress is to prepare for the calling of a constituent assembly to draft a federal constitution of Europe. A corollary purpose ls determine the main lines of such a draft. The United States has indorsed the European Assembly proposal. In the opinion of the State Department it would facilitate European recovery upon which American taxpayers are now spending billions of dollars. France, also is for'it. The French government has proposed to other signatories of the Brussels Pact (Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) that they namefrepresentatives to a five-power conference to be held not later than November. :

‘Britain Chief Stumbling Block

BRITAIN SEEMS to be the chief stumbling block. One would suppose such an idea would appeal strongly to a Socialist or Labor government. The reverse seems to be the case. Prime Minister Attlee has thrown cold water on the scheme and the arch-tory, former Prime Minister Churchill, is not only for it bat is the spearhead. : » The London Daily Mail says Mr. Attlee is against the idea because it would not be an exclusively socialist body. Yet, the newspaper adds, a European assembly is essential if a Western European Union is to be made a reali-

"ty. The Russians will cause trouble in the west,

it observes, unless the Western Powers show they mean what they say about co-operation. Winston Churchill is expected to attend the Interlaken Congress. The cleavage over the {ssue between him and Mr. Attlee has become sharp and public. Recently Mr. Churchill addressed a letter to the British prime minister outlining the British delegation’s plans for the meeting and asking his approval.

Urges Britain to Lead . “THE CREATION of a European Assembly,” wrote Mr. Churchill, “would represent an important, cal step in the advance toward a yu ( pe, and would greatly help to ate a sense of solidarity among the European peoples in the face of increasing dangers which ; et them. In this, the lead should be taken by Britain” . Prime Minister Attlee refused to indorse the plan. He indicated he was not opposed to the idea, as such. But he said the whole thing should be done by the governments concerned, not by “independent organizations or by parliaments.” And, he added, “I think it is not the right time for governments to take this major initiative.” Most countries—including the Unifpd States ~—seem of the opinion that if Europe ever needed economic and political unity, this is the time! ‘The whole idea behind European recovery is self-help. to fail; Admittedly, also, British co-operation

is indispensable.

will riot let the sybject drop even though every drop of has been squeezed from it. Like the bull he will grab it and shake it to Perhaps ject should dropped.

Without it, admittedly ERP 1s bound

hs a

THE WREATH of fragrant memories laid on Ed Bingham's grave last week failed to mention the historic fact that he was the first kid in Indianapolis to know how to pitch a curve ball. What's more, that he picked up the trick by

fessional team to represent lis was the one orin 1876 by W. B. Pettit, a, baseball character who had identified with the game almost from the days of its by Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday in 1889. i The very next year, the Pettit team won the pennant ‘in the International Association. It got its pretentious name because of the fact that

y ada. “you,” all this took: place * 70 years before Wendell Willkie thought up the idea of “One World” and passed it off as something new. :

From Sand Lots of St. Louis

THE PENNANT-WINNING team of 1877 was built around a battery comprising Eddie Nolan (p) and Frank (Silver) Flint (c), both of whom came to Indianapolis by way of sand lots in St. Louis. In no time at all, the Nolan-Flint * combination achieved a reputation that couldn't be matched anywhere (including Canada). The regularity with which Noland mowed down the opposition finally got people to wondering what he had on the ball. - All sorts of rumors were afloat and among the most fantastic was one to the effect ‘that. - Nolan had a curve ball in his repertoire when he came to Indiahapolis. Even more absurd was a report that he had learned to control it after establishing a Hoosier residence. Nolan christened hig controlled curve an “inshoot,” and because he was the only one anywhere in the world to know the nature of its . secret, he came to be called the “Only Nolan,” a name that stuck to him the rest of his life.

Dr. Jordan Didn't Believe It

ALL OF WHICH sets the stage for the entrance of David Starr Jordan, a brilliant teacher of selence on the faculty of Butler College at the time. When the professor heard. that Eddie Nolan was pitching a so-called “curve,” he forthwith pooh-poohed the idea as utterly absurd and contrary to the laws of nature. He suggested that, maybe, an optical illusion was involved. And finally he put his dissent in the shape of a dictum and declared the pitching of a curve ball “a feat incapable of demonstFation.” The verdict rocked the foundations of Indianapolis. Butler's faculty supported Dr. Jordan, of course. And, thoroughly aroused by this time, the Indianapolis team rallied to Eddie Nolan’s side. Not only that, but they challenged Dr. Jordan. They'd prove it, they said, even if

OUR TOWN . . By Anton Scherrer How Ed Bingham Became the First Kid in Town to Pitch a Curve

he was an accredited college professor of science, The experiment to test the possibility of a curve ball took place in the vacant lot back of the Maryland St. fire engine house (old No. 7) which, at that time was the hangout of the ball players. Two poles were placed a few feet apart and across them was stretched a sheet of paper. About 10 feet back was placed another set of two poles also plastered with paper. The oné and only Nolan then took his stance and pitched a ball powdered with chalk through the two sheets of paper, a slick way of enabling a myopic college professor to trace the flight of the projectilé—first by the holes in the two sheets of paper and finally by the white mark left by the powdered ball on the rear brick wall of the engine house. Of course, it was a curve ball. Dr. Jordan said he wouldn't have believed it had he not seen it with his own eyes.

Later Headed Leland Stanford.

~~ AMONG THOSE present that historic day were Charlie Houtz (1b), Joé Quest (2b), Ed Williamson (3b), Jack Nelson (ss), Rush MeKelvey (if), Eddie Rocap (cf), Pigtail Riley (rf) and, of course, Silver Flint, the only catcher capable of holding Nolan's blistering inshoot— with his bare hands, mind you. As for those who came to Help Dr. Jordan celebrate, the less sald about them the better. By way of parenthesis, it may not be amiss to note right here that Butler contrived to suppress the blunder of its teacher. Otherwise it wouldn't be possible to account for Dr. Jordan's appointment to the presidency of Leland Stanford University in 1885, just eight years after his argument with Mr. Nolan. Well, finally that brings me to Ed Bingham, an eight-year-old %id when all this excitement took place. He, too, was present the day of the historic scientific demonstration. And it wasn’t because of a little boy’s curiosity to follow the crowd and learn what all the hullabaloo was about. He was there for no other reason but to lend the moral support of a little boy who had implicit faith in curve ball.

Told His Secret to a Boy :

THE WAY Ed told it to me (and he told it

several times), Nolan boarded with a family on 4

W. Maryland St., the same balliwick in which the Binghams lived at the time. And because propinquity is capable of so many weird tricks, the fabulous pitcher and the-little boy struck up a lasting friendship, with the result that the “Only Nolan” shared his secret with the little boy. The truth is that Ed Bingham was well on the way of knowing how to pitch an inshoot the day Dr. Jordan questioned the possibility of a curve ball, ’ . Ed always ended his story, I remember, with the magnanimous observation that never again in his life did he feel sorrier for a man than the day Dr. Jordan had to eat his own words. Rosemary—that's for remembrance. $

is hero’s ability to pitch a

DEMOCRACY IN

Poland

By PARKER LA MOORE POLAND has reformed its political machinery to meet the latest specifications laid down by the Confinform, so now we have a 1848 model of a Communist “democracy.” Membership in Poland's single political party, the United Workers, has been limited to 1,500,000, two-thirds of whom must be Communists “so that danger of the party's being submerged by other ele ments will not arise.” By that one stroke of the. pen, 10 million of the country’s 11,500,000 voters are virtually disfranchised. (Yet the Communists constantly complain about our “illegal” elections in the South.) ; The “workers” are to have 57 per cent of the membership cards in the new party, the peasants 23 per cent, intellectuals 5.6 per cent, artisans 3.9 per cent. It is to be the policy, too, to “squeeze out” the “rich” peasants——those owning 50 or more acres of land. But it is emphasized that Poland is getting a better deal than Russia. ‘ Membership in Poland's Communist Party is almost twice as large in proportion to the population as in the case of the Russian Ce&mmunist Party, ;

Lom ma "| like her looks a lot—I'm going to date her as soon as her father gets that new convertible he ordered!"

SE -

. par OM, =. Py

‘Hoosier Forum

i defend fo tho due yor ht Io ay 0°

Congress, aided by. the citidens, swept so

many intelligent young men and women into

low-travelers and the like, Freedom-loving people attended cheering tub-thumpers, , organized ignorance and uphold the U. 8S. Constitution and he Bll Ix ey agitated everywhere the extermination of the Bolshevists and the

and labor unions. Such an interpretation as

thought in labor unions, as was. set up under FDR’s regime despite the fact he could not pack the U, 8. Sup Court, was

is not designed to protect the borrower, 1 ask you, whom does his agency proteet? agency. is then protecting someone and I think it would be the conniving and scheming contractor and the politicans, plus a few favored money mongrels who take everybody for. a sucker, and you who add your namie along with that of these men and exploit their advertising, which makes you a part of the deal, I suppose. 1t surely does not live up to the policies of your paper in the past. ‘ Why don’t you send your reporters out there and let them see how these houses are built? Then let them tell the people what they really learned. We never expect to see this in print or you might lose a juicy piece of advertising, or do you value -the dollar more than telling people the truth?

By a Reader In answer to the letter about Mayor Feeney, I think the Mayor is doing a good job in clean-

It takes time to clean up & town which was in as bad shape as this one. He can’t be everywhere at once, and some people expect him to get out with a mop and broom and clean. up the bus station. - He's the best Mayor we've had and I think we all should take our hats off to him.

GREAT BIG FROG...

How Mr. Kaiser Gets It Done

By Marquis Childs

OAKLAND, Cal, -Sept. 1—In a chartreuse and chocolatesbrown office as modern as day after tomorrow sits a man who ae 3 great, big, happy frog on a great, pad. It's wrong to say that Henry J. Kalser sits, because he doesn’t. He is the jumpingest jumping frog in all of the West. He has the warm, eager enthusiasm of a bulldozer and the shrinking modesty of a Hollywood press agent. He told" your correspondent: That Kaiser today produced more cement than the total produced by the pre-war cement “trust.” - That Kaiser was producing more aluminum ingot than the total production of the country in 1937. * .

That Kaiser-Fraser was making 1000 cars a day, and selling them and had $35 million cash in the.bank. . That is really only a small part of what he said. Memory reels before the onslaught of facth, figures, drama,” pantomime, all intery spersed with long distance telephone calls from various parts of the country.

Always He Bounces Back THIS MAN Kaiser is one of -the most controversial figures in the United States. He hi repeatedly defied all the gods of business finance who said it couldn't be done. He has been called harsh names by those who have accused him of snagging political subsidies out of government to finance his private ventures. And always he bounces back. a little higher

than before.

Even when he relaxes; he does it in a large way. He decided to build a summer retreat on Lake Tahoe in Nevada. Soon guest houses were blooming with the rich luxuriance of California geraniums. Mr. Kaiser even got his own motor boats and his own crews into the Tahoe races

and began to collect trophies in wholesale lots. -

Today he is in some 28 different industries. The exact number of Kaiser corporations is known only to the wizard himself. Sometime he forgets a few of the smaller ones. : Mr. Kaiser is always in a fight on one or more fronts. Today the major front is steel and the chief adversary is the Republic Steel Co. Mr. Kaiser had the effrontery to take a blast furnace right out from under the nose of Republic by way of a bid entered. with the War Assets Administration.

Raised Steel to ‘Gray’ Level HE IS unpredictable. Preaching against monopoly, he raised prices on steel products from the Kaiser steel plant at Fontana, Cal, to practically the grey market level. The price of steel

- plate was raised from $4.30 a hundredweight to

$5.80, structural steel from $4.25 to $5.75. Immediately, loud outcries went up from fabricators out here who sald they could net

objections aside as one would wave away a buzzing fly. . He owes the Reconstruction Finance Corporation something Jess than $100 million for Fontana, having signed a note in order to get the money from the RFC when he built the plant during the war. They all said (Mr. Kaiser

out a thew: iron ore deposit in the West and built a new railroad to it. The important fact is that things are happening here in the West which never happened fore. Mr. Kaiser has had a lot to do with this. Call it by whatever name you like, the fierce energy, the drive he has put into his enterprises is tuff that has made American production records the miracle of the world.

ren

OPT

Miss Gadd

the bride-to-of honor. to be, Miss Anderson; M ers, Kokomo lach. Beck} the flower The best Mehl and th C. King, Jo Gaddy. Miss Gad College and ler Universi of Kappa A Mr. Orewiler Nu Fraterni of Butler,

Mrs, Paul | Will Be H

Mr. and 4340 N. Illin tonight with in honor of the former A She was ma Guests wil Mr. and M parents of tl John E. Pc Ray E. Fr Mesdames ( Dailey, Chai ter Miller. Others at and Mrs.

s— atm —_