Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 September 1951 — Page 13

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Inside Indianapolis By Ed Sovola

..- THE WORLD is full of skeptics. Life can be trying at times,

A man gets one idea he thinks he can have

some fun with and. another man tries to knock it.

into a cocked hat. W. H. Mecklin , manage G. C., Murphy Co., is such a ig Dager of You know; he thinks I can't trim one of his. windows. He's afraid of having his plate glass Broken, merchandise manhandled and window shoppers frightened. It all began when I wondered the other.day if the ability I had 10 years ago as a window trimmer is still around. How can you know if you don't try? Mr. Meckling has the windows, merchandise. The job would be done free. Don Wilson, G. C. Murphy trimmer, had no objections.

“"w a “GO SEE the boss. he ought to go for the idea,” Don said. “If you run into any trouble, give me a buzz.” Trouble met me at the door. It shouldn't have been there. Mr. Meckling wasn't receptive, he had a good trimmer. Things were going along splendidly at the store. He was satisfied with the way the displays looked, broken window in many months.

A weaker man might have turned on his heel. A man less confident in his ability might have accepted the brushoff and gone off in a corner to sulk. But this is the age of strength, Improved foods, full-steam-ahead attitudes. bh BD “MR. MECKLING,” 1 said, thumping his desk, “did you ever have a burning desire to do some of the things you used to do when you were younger?” ‘He did. “8ix years of my early manhood were spent in department store windows. Those were good days, full of imagination and self-expression, Understand, I don't want to go back. I just want to see if the hand i= still master over the pin, poster, price tag and window setups.” A tear formed in the corner of one eye (the one facing Mr. Meckling).

It Happened Last Night

By Earl Wilson

BANGKOK, Thailand, Sept 12 It is BR o'clock this morning here but 8 o'clock last night back

home as we race through the Orient, our eyes

popping at strange things we're seeing in this “Anna and the King of Siam” country. Tea-and-bananas is the breakfast brought you by your barefooted, Chinese-looking waiter, You can buy opium freely and legally in the drug stores (don’t worry, Mom, I didn’t) ... you can ride bicycle-drawn rickshaws . . . but you can't meet the King of Siam, because the young fellah’s in school over in Switzerland. “I never saw so many Smiling people” the Beautiful Wife said as we rode in a motor launch out to see “the floating market.” Maybe they're smiling because the U. 8. is pouring money in here. Americans say this is a real barrier against communism. In the “floating market” some men and women paddled little floating saloons up and down the river. The river was filthy. Yet we saw women wash their clothes, their hair, and their teeth in the river water. “ oo o BUT THEY seemed healthy; so did their four or five children who ran about nakedly, flashing smiles at us, waving and yelling. They're mostly illiterate. Lucky people, they don’t know what's going on in the world. Around town you see plenty of American fliers. . . . This is the ‘new air crossroads and evidently the U. S. is going to keep it on our side. Plenty of people here look like Ytfil Brynner the star of “The King and 1.” The real king has an enormous barge in which he and his Queen, seated in gold-colored thrones, ride down the river. 4 I went to the Royal Barge House and looked at the thrones, but decided on second thought not to get up into one of them. * > & " AT A COCKTAIL PARTY given by Eddie Questra, president of the Bank of America here, I met the Prince Regent—and forgot. to call him “Your Royal Highness,” But he's not so formal. In speeches he sometimes calls this country Siam and then adds: “I gues I'm supposed to say ‘Thailand.'” “Thai” (pronounced Tie) means free, so the country's name means Freeland. Some Americans call the people “Thais” or Ties. It's been a land of opportunity for one American, Bill Davis, of Los Angeles and San Francisco, who, at 28, is going to retire, with a quarter of a million a year, and study law at Leland Stanford—then just luxuriate. HE CAME HERE about 4 years ago. started an airline, got into other businesses, found a lead-

Americana By Robert C. Ruark

NEW YORK, Sept. 12—Hear tell the Senate Finance Committee has approved the idea of a 10 ‘per cent bite of some {illegal business, like making horse book and running lotteries, plus an “occupational” tax of $50 per year on lawbreak-

ars and their associates,

Come cuddle in father's lap, gentlemen of the Senate, whilst he wisessyou on a ¢ouple of facts of life. All this would do is officially legalize gambling from a federal standpoint, giving the Iawbreakers and official-perverters their first real dignity, while removing them from the clutches of the local enforcers. All the efforts toward swabbing out the cesspool of crime and its impact on government would be wasted overnight. 5 Last time I looked they were slapping a tax on bootleggers in Mississippi, in which drinking is strictly against the law. When I was there, Mississippi was about the widest-open drinkinggambling . state available, with the gold coast roaring. The crooked cops and .crooked sheriffs were happily conspiring with the 'leggers and the ardent drys to keep it just like that. Everybody was happy, including the tax-grabbers who were finding heavy revenue in illegal activity. And the citizens got just as sweetly loaded at open bars as if it weren't strictly against the law.

ho oD

LOUISIANA WAS a sink of governmental corruption when gambling was legal down there. The gamblers owned the government, local, parish and state, and sure as shooting Nevada ‘is no gift to civic cleanliness today. Mind you, I am no moralizer about the evils of gambling. I quit the horses only because I loved them so much, and was continually feeling the impact af my love in the ¥icinity of the Morris Plan. I still love crap shooting and poker, and would shoot them and play it more often if 1 could afford it- and mama would let me out nights, You will never be able to reform man's urge to violate certain restrictions on his personal people are people they will

Christmas toys,

He's a pretty good egg,

Murphy’s hasn't. had a’

doctor will tell you that, and. it

A

°

"See Mr. Inside Wor In a Goldfish Bowl:

“How do I know you'll do a good job?” “I'm telling you.” “What if you break a window?” “Surely you have insurance.” *T'1l call Don.” “Do that.” :

The air in the office was getting somewhat close before Don showed up. - Fortunately he, came—loaded—for bear;—He had a display promotion book, the perfect article for me to trim > » 9 g “I WAS planning to put the toys in No, 11 window myself,” Don explained. “Let him try his hand. There isn’t much he can do wrong with Christmas toys.”

“How much can he do wrong? worries me,” snorted Mr. Meckling. “If you feel that way about , ..” Don’s elbow struck me sharply in the ribs. “With this photograph and the merchandise I'll pick out, he'll do all right,” laughed Don. “I know how he feels. Once a window ‘trimmer, always a window trimmer at heart. I think.” Can you imagine having to argue todo some work for free? All is forgotten, though, because tomorrow at 9:30 a. m,, I'll be in No. 11 window, which faces Illinois St. Toys, they're perfect. Don couldn't have picked better merchandise. When I think of the fun I've had with toy windows my sides begin to hurt.

That's what

nN, I'LL. NEVER forget the toy window we were putting in at Sears, Roebuck & Co. in Chicago's Loop. The display was so big we had to take one of the plate glass windows out to get it in. Before the afternoon was over, three big plate windows were shattered on the sidewalk. The first one was slips. The second window cracked by vacuum. Never did understand that. The third one went when I wasn’t around. T»1k about fun, boy, we used to have it. If you're in town tomorrow, stop, by Murphy's Don’t lean on the window or try to distract me from my work. I have to do a good job ana prove to Mr. Meckling that he shouldn't be such a big ol' skeptic. :

Their Optics Pop At Sights in Siam

zinc mine , , . oh, yes, and a gold mine, too—the Coca-Cola concession Alexander MacDonald, editor of the Bangkok Post, told me the local drink, nekong, made by the Government out of rice and molasses, is ver) good. Not long ago the Government statement saying: “Not a bottle leaves the distillery unless it has been aged for 48 hours.” :

> + oo

issued a

THE MIDNIGHT EARL IN N. Y.: Frank Sinatra expects to have Jack Benny and the Andrews sisters as guests on his first buck-Berle. TV show on CBS Sept. 25. He hopes to have his divorce by then and to have married Ava Gardner . . Dorothy Parker and Allen Campbell, twice wed, will soon be twice divorced . ,, John Perona returned from Europe. ..,

> +»

B'WAY BULLETINS: The George Schraffts finally called it quits. He'll remain in Europe while she returns here . , , London impresario Siegi Sessler brought in lots of smoked salmon for his pals Billy Reed and Mac Kriendler . . . The Maharaja of Baroda will spend six months in Bermuda . .. Previewers are praising “Saturday’s Hero” ... Anna Marie Mussolini, eldest daughter of I1 Duce, and New Yorker Henry Karmal are a Buenos Aires romance . . . Mrs. Peggy Creel (“Mrs. Central Florida”) competed in the Mrs. America contest Sunday at Asbury Park, N. J. Opening: A packed house, which paid mute attention and then applauded madly &t Bill Miller's Riviera, proved all over again the tremendous entertainment value of the great .Lena Horne, Few other entertainers approach her in spreading such mass appeal and artistry. oo oo EARL’S PEARLS: The big surprise at the Joe E. LewisConnie Moore Copa opening was the talented song and dance team of Peggy Ryan and Ray MacDonald. Puckish Joe E. Lewis, who busted his 11year Copa record, told the audience, “I go to the track not » only to gamble, but for the Mr. Lewis fresh air and exercise—that's how I work off my surplus cash.”

I

COMIC GEORGE DeWITT does right well

with. the impressions. dept..and.cautions. the. pan

trons about too lusty applause as it will break the continuity of the silence , , , That's Earl, brother.

Ics Always Easier To Enforce for Good

the transgressor easier. When you cloak man’s inclination to orneriness with state approval, you debase the state and make it easier for the parasite to sneak into power by control of public officials. He becomes a co-conspirator with his own government, . “oo 1 HAVE known considerable looselivers in my time in this business, and I never knew a gambler or a. crook who didn't admit frankly that even semilegislation of gambling was his heart's best hope. That way he has— status, that way one

more technicality which might trip him is removed; that way he has open sesame to bribery and control of his country's laws. He just branches out, gets bigger, and shoves more tentacles into the workings of his land. In my book the repeal of prohibition was good for the country, but it never removed the crook from a big piece of the legal business. Breweries and certain brands of booze and accompanying beverages are still administered by the old mob, and bootlegging today is bigger and better than ever. Worse even than a complete legalization of gambling is this contemplated half-measure that would semidignify the gambling racketeer by making his illegal earnings subject to legal taxation. Now the government owns a plece of the joint, and is tacitly interested in its perpetuation. At the same time, while government agencies are trying to stamp out the evil that gambling breeds in corruption, another fleet of federal employees is scuttling about trying to improve its- score on a tax take. Somebody has to get fixed real good in the process, and the legal taxpayer continues to pay for both ends of the operation, while remaining in the middle. : Legalized prostitution never cut down the incidence of venereal disease, for the simple fact that a dame with a steady place of business could bundle 20 times as many clients as a tootsie who was constantly on the lam from the ja ay

Keep ‘sin A ine, aud

Cas yr

i

The Indianapolis Times

w

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1951

Best Game: Horseshoes—

Gls Told How To

JUST LIKE THE MASTER—Pvt. Tinr Mulroy takes the pose of his famous teacher, Scarne. Now Tim

is the teacher. In inset, he flashes a quick ace.

Times Photos by Lloyd B. Walton

AN HONEST DEAL—Not what it seems.

REGULAR DEAL—Us amateurs.

Billions for Prevention—

Arming: Is Costly, But Cheaper Than War

By CHARLES E. WILSON, Diractor of Defense Mobilization WASHINGTON, Sept. 12—The purpose of defense

mobilization is to prevent a third world war.

If that

simple statement is kept uppermost in the minds of the American people, it will give meaning and perspective to

the public issues they are now being called to judge. It is very costly to support an armed force of nearly 3,500,000 men; to supply other free nations with weapons; to build up an adequate stockpile of materials; to procure planes, ships, tanks, guns, shells and, the thousands of other things needed in war; to expand production of steel, copper, aluminum, electric power; and to set up standby facilities and production lines that could go into

' operation in an emergency.

It is costly to do these things, but a third world war would be far more costly. In the process of transforming industry to defense production, it is necessary to cur- " tail the output of civilian goods, particularly those types of goods. which consume _ scarce metals, This But jit is a petty one in comparison to what would happen to the production of civilian ‘ Eocds if all-out war should oe-

is a nuisance.

«

We

"ian: economy-—it Is

WHEN MANY BILLIONS of dollars are devoted to defense production—when so big a slice is taken out of the normal civilinevitable that inflationary pressures should oceur. In other words, more dollars are competing for fewer goods. This means price rises. and, when prices rise, so also do wages. That is why it has bhécome necessary to set up safeguards against inflation—regulation of prices and wages; restrictions on bank credit; curbs on installment buying; increased margins on security purchases, and so on. When such measures seem onerous, citizens may ask themselves how much more sevéte they would have to be if a gen‘eral war should break out. One of the most effective ‘méans to control inflation is to levy higher taxes because this

"reduces the purchasing power of

the consumer-—hence eases the

pe ) ’ on % y . ice, nb apr anes

PROFESSIONAL—Watch index finger.

Charles E. Wilson

are always painful, their effect in keepihg down prices saves money for the taxpayer. But even if this were not true, he may consider how much higher taxes would have to be in case of a third world war.

2 n » THE HIGH COST of defense, the curtailment of civilian production, the measures needed to control inflation--all ‘these are unpleasant. But they are comparatively minor interfer-

‘DEALER'S KNEE—Has an itch.

‘other free nations,

PAGE 13

‘Spot Gamblers

es State Service

Cui Tim : AMP ATTERBURY, Sept.

12-——Something new has

been added to the Army's -basic training program at

Camp -Atterburyg

It's a course in gambling.

Soldiers are taught how to spot a professional gambler and what. he'll do jf given an opportunity. Officials here believe the onehour class will teach soldiers gambling doesn’t pay without any strain on their slim pocketbooks. , <s Pvt. Tim Mulroy, .a professional magician ‘and card trick artist in civilian life and now a member of the Army's Special Services Branch, conducts the course, The 23-year-old soldier received his basic training in card tricks and gambling from Scarne, the internationally famous card expert. He worked with Scarne on many of his programs at Army camps and Navy bases throughout the Country during World War II. ” n ” PVT. MULROY FEELS the most important lesson he teachés is how a soldier can eacily spot a professional gambler. “You can spot them by the way they hold a deck of cards,” he said. “A professional will hold his index finger on top of the deck when he deals. It's necessary for him to do this so that he can dea! them the way he wants, It is an uncomfortable way to held cards. The amateur's index finger remains at the side of the deck when he deals. It's the natural way to hold a deck.” : He tells the soldiers that a professional waits until there's a big pot before he goes into action. “You're at his merey then” he said. “He's at. his best when the stakes are high and will stop at nothing to win. He'll most likely switch decks at this point. “He does it very smoothly. A second deck of cards is attached beneath his chair. He

" NOT OFF TOP—This is called seconds.

The need for defense mobili zation is not something dreamed up by officials at Washington. It was a hard choice and it was thrust upon our country by Soviet Russia. Mankind had the right to expect-that the end of World War IT would be followed by an era of peace But ever since that ended, the Kremlin has pursued policies which have kept the free world: in constant apprehension. It has seized control of Eastern Europe and a large part of Asia; it has attempted political infiltration of Italy and France; it has engaged in guerrilla warfare in Greece, Malaya and Indo-China; it has attempted to blockade Berlin; finally, the Kremlin inspired the bloody conflict in Korea. » » » THAT IS WHY, last December, the President felt it necessary to: proclaim the existence of a national emergency. That is why the nation, in the interest of its own safety and that of has embarked on a vast program of national preparedness. That is why we are building America's

‘might. -

war

shuffles the No. 1 deck and then, just as he's set to deal, will pull up his chair closer to the table. While he is pulling the chair he disposes of the first deck and grabs the stacked set of cards concealed under his chair.” » » » PVT. MULROY EXPLAINS that two amateurs working together are just as dangerous as a professional working alone, “They signal each other what they have and then exchange cards.” The course covers the most famous card games—poker, black jack and gin—and demonstrates the different ways gamblers can cheat in each of these games, “Dice,” Pvt. Mulroy tells soldiers, “is the most ridiculous gambling game of them all. A man shouldn’t even play with his mother.” “An illegitimate gambler can handle three pair of dice in ona hand, but you'll only see one pair.” Be The GI card instructor ends each class by telling soldiers to fire any questions they have at

him. » » »

THE QUESTIONS most often asked are what's the best way to cut a deck and what is the best game to play.

“The best way to cut a deck is in'three stacks,” Pvt. Mulroy tells them. “It'll upset any set deck. “And the best game to play is horseshoes.” “The odds against rolling a seven the first time are 35 to one,” Pvt. Mulroy said. y “And the odds are 1000 to one against you if you're game bling with a professional.”

EOUR BULLETS=-Wins the scratch.

the language of stréngth. The Kremlin iz deaf to the appeals of diplomacy. to moral force, to good will, understanding and the ideal of human brotherhood. But, as Korea has proved, the Kremlin does respond to foree, So a good slogan for these times is: “It's strength that works, let's work for strength.” - Therein lies humanity's best hope to avert the agony and horror of a third world war—an atomic war which could well destroy civilization and return the earth to barbarism. Therein lies the reason why Americans ‘should accept cheerfully the burdens and sacrifices that are being caused by defense mobilization.”

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