The Indianapolis times. [volume], January 07, 1936, Final Home Edition, Second Section, Image 11

About The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965

Image provided by: Indiana State Library

                
it Seems to Me
Htvnd BROUN
ORLEANS, La., Jan. 7.—This is one of the
most friendly cities in the world, but in the be
ginning I can not say that I care much about the
youth of New Orleans. Naturally, this does not in
clude my own friends, but, of course, they are not
especially young, some of them are almost as old
as I am.
Their wives, however, are younger, and, even so,
they are not included in my criticism of the youth
of New Orleans. In the beginning a high school dance
here in the hotel aroused my ani
mosity. The prankish lads were
setting off firecrackers in the lob
by, and then they suddenly oc
cupied all the tables in the case,
consuming vast quantities of coca
cola and elbowing hard drink id
herents out of the way.
The manly little fellow who
sat just abaft of me shouted,
"Hey, Eddie!” every five seconds
in a voice fit to call the voters
even from the. missing districts.
Eddie never put in an appear
ance, but sight unseen I grew to
dislike him heartily. When the
boys and girls began throwing
■ lp
Heywood Broun
chairs at each other I decided to go my sedate way
out into the night.
tt tt tt
Smack! Another Delegation
I HAD hardly walked a block when I ran smack
into another delegation of hostages to fortune.
This group of future Hueys was milling up and down
Canal-st in high excitement and hilarity and
bumping people off the sidewalk.
I tagged along with the procession, which finally
came to rest in front of the entrance of a minor
motion picture house. Asa matter of fact, the
marchers did not really come to rest but milled about
the closed doors, which, according to the announce
ment set In front, were not scheduled to open until
midnight.
The picture’s simple title was “Sex Maniac.” In
ternationally famous aberrationists were pictured in
wax In a small glass case at the entrance. I did not
linger with the good naturcd crowd nor wait to see
the content of the film play. I thought the title
told too much, and I feared the idyll might end upon
a bitter note.
Os course, It may be that they were married and
lived happily ever after, but I can not testify. Prob
ably not, because there was a sign proclaiming that
the show was “For Adults Only.”
tt tt tt
Lenient. Maturity
STILL, In matters of maturity New Orleans is
lenient. All entrances to the race track are
guarded by signs which read “Minors are not ad
mitted,” but apparently that only means that in
fants in arms must drop their teething rings as they
approach the ticket seller.
New Orleans is a city for the romantic and the
very young. But all my early investigation tended
to show that the youth of modern New Orleans is
too brash and noisy. More lately I have run into
little groups of serious-minded students from Tulane
and L. S. U. The League for Industrial Democracy
flourishes actively in the colleges. A professor from
Tulane who seemed no more than a stripling led
the drive of criticism against the Long machine in
the convention of the Law School Association.
The new president of Commonwealth College,
who looks like a high school lad, is a native of New
Orleans.
Oh, yes, indeed, New Orleans has its young radi
cals and its young intellectuals, but you can’t find
them on the main streets. They are not yet honored
in their own country.
(Copyright. 1936)
A Liberal Viewpoint
BY. DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES
WHILE the political spellbinders and legal
pundits are endeavoring to befog the public by
such issues as the constitutionality of the New Deal,
the alleged socialism of the Roosevelt regime, the
evils of public control over predatory business, the
right of babes to labor, and the like, really scientific
books on the problems of government and law are
appearing in large numbers.
Os all thj critical appraisals of President Roose
velt and the New Deal it seems to me that Mauritz
A. Hallgren’s "The Gay Reformers” (Knopf, $2.75) is
the most astisfactory and convincing.
R supplements, on the biographical side, the bril
liant economic analysis of the New Deal in Stolberg
and Vinton’s volume. It well illustrates the basic fact,
apparent to most reasonable men, namely, that the
New Deal is almost impregnable to attacks from the
right and equally vulnerable to analysis from the
left.
The utttr intellectual bankruptcy of assaults from
the’right could not be better illustrated than in Er
nest Greenwood's unabashed defense of irresponsible
public utility organizations and policies, “You, Utili
ties. and the Government” (Appleton-Century, $2).
The farce of viewing Congress as the servant of
the people and public interest is well exposed by
Dorothy Frooks in her “Over the Heads of Congress”
(Nelson, $1).
tt a a
ONE of the most realistic, devastating and con
structively critical books on government and law
to appear in our generation is Professor Thurman
W. Arnold’s “The Symbols of Government.” (Yale
University Press, $2.50.)
Asa keen and lucid analysis of the fictions, myths
and rationalizations that dominate our political and
legal thinking and public policy it is worth far more
than the pontifical pedantry of a Pareto. He punc
tures the myth 4>f the “majesty of the law” and of
the profound nature of the legal mind.
Professor Arnold carries his resolute analysis
through the fields of the social sciences, doctrines of
legal theory, the mysteries of jurisprudence, eco
nomics and the law, spiritual versus temporal gov
ernment. criminal trials, law enforcement, the hang
over of “trial by battle” in civil suits to defeat gov
ernmental control, and the battle between the courts
and bureaucracy, namely, the struggle between
precedent and red tape.
He ends with constructive suggestions in a con
cluding chapter on “A Philosophy for Politicians,”
in which he suggests that one may fruitfully look at
the problem of government in the light of the or
ganization and control of an insane asylum. Any
body who thinks this is merely a superficial “wise
crack” will profit by perusing the chapter.
Whether we will ever achieve a rational handling
of political problems Professor Arnold believes prob
lematical, but he hopes for the best.
Literary Notes
J. G. Edmonds, a literary agent in Pittsburgh,
Pa., will pay a cash -prize of SSO for the best original
unpublished short story he receives by Feb. 28. 1936.
Any one may submit stories, but the award is in
tended for new authors rather than for those al
ready established. Stories should not be shorter
than 1000 words nor longer than 10,000. Although
the prize is for the purpose of discovering new writ
ers who may develop into clients for Mr. Edmonds
he points out that those who submit manuscripts
and the winner of the prize are under no obligation.
a a a
Another contest: S2OOO worth of prizes in cash
and scholarships are offered by the Rollins College
student literary magazine. Flamingo, for short stor
ies, 1500 to 3000 words in length. They must be sub
mitted to John C. Bills, editor of the Rollins Flam
ingo, Winter Park, Fla., before April 1, 1936. The
first prize story and announcement of the winners
will bo published In the May, 1936, issue. A com
mittoo of writers, critics and editors will serve as the
judges with Edwin Granberry, short story writer
and faculty adviser to the Flamingo.
• mm
Wallace Smiths new book, called "The Happy
Alienist,” will be brought out by Smith As Haas. Pub
liffctioh date, has been set tentatively Gr Feb. 24.
Full Leased Wire SerTiee of
*he United Press Association
Second of a series by the Scripps- Howard Science Editor.)
’X'HE Age of Steel is rapidly becoming the Age of Stain
less Steel. A product of laboratory research during the
depiession, stainless steel is providing the foundation of
the new world into which the nation is moving with the
advent of recovery.
The building industry, the chemistry industry, the
manufacture of oil, rayon, paper, automobiles and air
planes, are a few that are being revolutionized by the pos
sibilities of stainless steel.
The gleaming turrets of battleships, the glittering
spires of skyscraper towers, the shimmering blades of
surgical instruments, the
sparkling bar of anew
night club, false teeth,
kitchen sinks, and a huge
variety of tanks and machinery
for food handling, for the chemi
cal industry and for dozens of
others, are among the new prod
ucts made of stainless steel.
“The stainless prince of steels”
is the appropriate name coined
for the shining alloy by the
Chemical Foundation. It is a
good name, for this flashing
prince has conquered the dreaded
dragon of the industrial world—
rust
Ever since man began to use
iron and steel, this destroying
dragon has exacted his toll of
tribute. In the wake of his breath
formed the red oxide known as
rust.
It ate into the girders of bridges,
the sides of ships, the edges of
tools. Rust determined the life
span of steel structures. It num
bered the days of steel machines.
tt n tt
'T'HREE billion dollars a year
has been the cost of rust.
The Chemical Foundation cites
one typical example. ,
The recent repainting of New
York's Manhattan bridge cost
$36,000 for paint and $285,000 for
labor. All such exposed steel
structures must be repainted every
fourth year and a crew of men
must be employed constantly to
apply protective coatings where
rust is most likely to occur.
For more than a century, men
dreamed of a steel that would not
rust. But it required the advance
of modern scientific research to
produce it.
The story begins in Sheffield,
England’s famous steel center, in
the years just before the World
War.
Harry Brearley, a British me
tallurgist, was trying to devise an
alloy for use in naval guns, one
that would withstand the corro
sive effect of sustained fire.
tt tt
HE tried alloying steel with
chromium and found the re
sultant alloy was resistant to
nitric acid. He reasoned that it
ought then be also resistant to
rust. Tests confirmed his rea
soning.
The Sheffield manufacturers
tried out the new steel in their
famous specialty, cutlery, and
because the knives would not stain
nor tarnish, the new product was
christened stainless steel.
Then came the World War and
a German metallurgist during the
days of battle found that a still
bettet stainless steel could be ob
tained by adding nickel to it. He
made the first “18-8” steel, that
is, a steel containing 18 per cent
of chromium and 8 per cent of
nickel.
Further experiments after the
war days developed the fact that
improvements could be made in
these steels by controlling the
carbon content as well as the per
centage of the alloying metals.
tt tt
RESEARCHES during the years
of the depression have
further extended man’s mastery
over the field so that today there
is not merely one stainless steel
but four different types and many
varieties of the different types.
These are classified by the
Chemical Foundation as (l)
straight chromium cutlery type,
(2) straight chromium harden
able engineering type, (3) straight
chromium non-hardenable type,
and (4> non-hardenable. chrom
ium nickel type.
The early experimenters were
seeking a steel which would resist
rust. They were not seeking
stronger steels. But it soon de
veloped that they were achieving
strength as well as rust-resistance.
The tensile strength of ordinary
structural steel and steel plates is
about 50,000 to 60.000 pounds per
square inch. Stainless steels of
Types One and Two in the
above classification, possess tensile
strength of more than 200.000
pounds per square inch. Types
Three and Four possess tensile
strength of 80.000 to 100.000
pounds per square inch in the an
nealed condition but can be cold
worked into thin sheets or wires
which have tensile strength of
BENNY
j* fflft* I'' * m V
m-2 2 _
—& . p. " •-
12 ft— LI t T
The Indianapolis Times
200,000 to 350,000 pounds per
square inch.
This explains why engineers at
tach so much importance to stain
less steels and why the world is
moving from the Age of steel into
the* Age of Stainless Steels.
tt tt
A N incident in a milk price war
in a southern city illustrates
the strength of stainless steel.
Somebody put a charge of dyna
mite in the rack at the rear end
of a milk truck.
The explosion blew out the rear
tires, smashed a supporting cross
beam, ripped the aluminum and
cork covering from the tank and
shattered the windows in the cab
at the front of the truck.
The explosion made a bulge in
the tank of stainless steel but
failed to crack the thin shell of
steel or to burst open its welded
seams. The tank was full of milk
at the time and not a drop leaked
out.
Henry Ford was the first to in
troduce the use of stainless steel
on a large scale. That was in the
depression year of 1930, the year
when Henry Ford, leaving behind
his famed Model TANARUS, encased the
radiator of his new Model A in
glittering stainless steel.
From that time on, the auto
motive industry has been one of
the largest users of stainless steel.
Not only on the outside of the
car, where its resistance to rust is
important, is stainless steel used
today, but also in the hidden parts
of the car where its strength and
resistance to heat are important.
Valves, piston rings, pump shafts,
manifold heat control units, bolts
and nuts in vital spots are made
of stainless steel today.
tt tt tt
T IKEWISE in aviation, stainless
-*■“* steel is finding its place in the
construction of the plane and its
engines.
Stainless steel also helps get
the gasoline for your automobile
or airplane. In the oil fields it
is being used in the equipment
that cracks the heavy oils into
gasoline.
The tubes of the cracking stills
must stand the corrosive action of
chemicals and heat. Four to 11
weeks used to be the average life
of these tubes. But the tubes cf
stainless steel, put into operation
five years ago, are still as good as
new. So today the oil industry is
using thousands of tons of stain
less steel in its equipment.
The superior strength of stain
less steel means that the same
strength can be obtained with less
material than when older steels
were used. That is why stainless
steel is so important to the trans
portation industry to the rail
roads, the automotive industry,
the airplane, the ship at sea.
Among those to see at an early
date the importance of stainless
steel was the United States Navy.
Stainless steel meant ships better
able to resist corrosion, lighter
ships, ships with stronger armor.
Experts of the United States
Navy went into the mills vo work
hand-in-hand with the metal
lurgists.
tt tt tt
TODAY the Navy uses stainless
steel in more than 100 ways—
for deck-houses and lattice-work
masts, for fuel tanks on subma
rines and cruisers, for gu.i mounts,
rivets, cooking utensils . and re
frigerators.
Many of the new Diesel electric
high-speed, streamlined railroad
trains have bodies of stainless
steel. Among them are the Bur
lington’s famous trains, the
Zephyrs. Another Is the Flying
Yankee which goes between Bos
ton and Bangor, Me.
The decorative possibilites of
stainless steel, combined with its
resistance to corrosion, have made
it appeal to architects. The gleam
ing spire of the Chrysler Build
ing tower in New York is stain
less steel.
So is the Plaza Hotel bar in New
York. Radio City makes im
mense use of stainless steel, as
do other buildings for doors, store
fronts, lobby trimming, elevators
and the like.
You can have a kitchen sink
or a cocktail shaker of stainless
steel if you wish. It is entering
the home as well as industry.
Tomorrow—Tailored Steels.
INDIANAPOLIS, TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1936
Pouring ingots in a steel mill . The stream cf white-hot metal, once cooled, becomes
the raw material from ivhich many marvels of the new world are fashioned.
Washington Merry-Go-Round
BY DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN
WASHINGTON, Jan. 7. —The
latest attempt on the part
of Rex Tugwell to resign disclosed
an important frame of mind on
the part of the President. He in
sists on keeping a quota of Lib
erals in the New Deal.
The incident, of itself, was in
significant. Tugwell has suggested
many times that he resign as Re
settlement Administrator and re
turn to his chair of economics at
Columbia.
Last week’s renewed proposal of
resignation came after publication
of a story that Miss Grace Falke,
assistant to Tugwell, had assumed
a role similar to that of Miss
Frances (Little Robbie) Robinson
when General Johnson was dic
tator of the Blue Eagle. Miss
Falke, 27 and efficient, had been
jumped to a salary of $5,600.
Tugwell told the President that
the newspaper reports were being
misinterpreted, that he was the
object of bitter attack by enemies
of the Administration, and that
he had become a liability rather
than an asset to the New Deal.
He pleaded that Roosevelt would
be better off without him and
asked to resign. He made this
point more emphatically than he
has ever before.
But Roosevelt also came back
more emphatically than ever be
fore. Under no circumstances, he
said, would he permit his No. 1
Brain Truster to leave.
“What would all of my Liberal
friends say,” he argued, “if you
should get out? They would say
that I had deserted them com
pletely.”
Roosevelt pointed out, further,
that Tugwell had become a sym
bol of Liberalism in the Admin
istration. that the Administration
needed that symbol, and whether
Tugwell liked it or not, he would
have to stay.
Tugwell acquiesced although
close friends expect him to make
another attempt to resign in the
spring.
tt tt
Townsend Plan
THE Townsend Plan promises
to be one of the most delicate
problems which politicians-—espe
cially aspirants to the presidency
—will have o face.
The publication of Senator
Borah's article “The Sjpreme
Court” in the current issue of
Redbook Magazine was made the
occasion for a special press con
ference in Borah’s office.
A large number of reporters
asked him numerous questions re
garding the court and its powers.
"Finally, as the correspondents were
p* .paring to leave, one of them
spo-'e up:
“Senator, can you tell us what
is your position on the Townsend
Plan?”
Every one stopped dead in his
tracks —including Borah.
“Why, uh . . . well, I don’t think
we want to mix up these subjects
today. I intend to make my posi
tion perfectly clear on the Town
send Plan—at the proper time.”
tt tt tt
Munitions Probe
SENSATIONAL disclosures, cer
tain to cause international re
verberations and have a powerful
effect on the battle over neutrali
ty, are due as the Senate Muni
tions Committee resumes its in
vestigation today.
J. P. Morgan and Thomas W.
Lamont are the star witnesses un
der fire. By cross-questioning them
the committee seeks to establish:
1. That German submarine war
fare was not the sole cause of
United States entry into ihe war,
as claimed by the Wilson Admin
istration.
2. That there was a "startling
coincidence” between Wilsonian
foreign policy and the attitude of
big New York bankers.
3. That loans made by J. P.
Morgan and other bankers to the
allies were a controlling factor in
dragging this country into war.
To support these contentions
the committee will put into the
record scores of secret messages,
cables, memoranda and documents
its investigators have dug from
the files of the State Department,
Morgan & Cos., the National City
Bank and Kuhn, Loeb & Cos.
Committee members predict
that the revelations they are
scheduling will overshadow those
produced by Ferdinand Peocra in
his famous Senate banking in
vestigation several years ago.
a u
Reluctant Morgan
BEHIND the appearance of
Messrs. Morgan and Lamont
today an untold story of bitter
fighting between the munitions
committee and the Morgan firm
over its records.
The Morgans refused flatly to
throw open their files. Senate
agents had to prove the “perti
nency” of every document before
they were allowed to make a copy
of it.
For example, the investigators
asked for records bearing on cer
tain loans. They were given a
handful of papers. i n these docu
ments the agents found references
to other messages. When these
were requested, John W. Davis,
Morgan attorney, replied that
some were “missing” and chal
lenged the “pertinency” of others.
Committee members say that as
the hearings proceed, it will be
come clearly apparent that much
“hot” data is still missing. Wether
it has been destroyed, secreted or
“mislaid” they are unable to say.
Five special investigators spent
six months ransacking the Morgan
records, and clashed repeatedly
with the company over their right
to the documents.
(Copyright. 1936. by United Feature
Syndicate. IncJ.
By J. Carver Pusey
Second Section
linteiTf! Swond-CltM Matter
at Postoffice, Indianapolis. Ind.
Fair Enough
WESIBROOK PEGLER
PARIS, Jan. 7.—The name of William Shearer,
the old battleship salesman, somehow has a
sinister sound to me, so when Commendatore Rota,
Ambassador Hotel manager in Rome, confided that
Shearer was in the house I looked shrewdly mys
terious like a cub reporter around a police station.
“Yeah.” I said. “Yes, you know him?” said Rota.
Said I, “Not personally, but he’s the guy who sort
of, well, you know—Geneva. You remember the
Geneva Naval Conference? That's the guy.”
“Is that a fact?” exclaimed
Signor Rota. “Well, he’s here.
I'm lunching with him.” “Did he
bring his sample case?” I
snapped. “I don't know.” my
host said. “Do they carry’ Ijttle
samples?”
Shearer was the name of a
sordid materialist, a peddler
of warships, who went to Geneva
and by casting suspicion on naval
formulas had gummed up a great
and noble effort by a round table
of diplomats, admirals, munitions
salesmen and similar conspirators
to reduce the navies of the world,
most of all ours.
The oil crowd had been in Rome a few days be
fore trying to cut themselves a slice of cake, and th®
contrast between these manipulators, and the poor
dumb Italian soldiers sinking up to their armpits
in the military morass of Abyssinia was quite pa
thetic.
n n n
He Was Quite Noticeable
A FEW nights later I entered the room where
Shearer was. and heard a voice that domi
nated the whole shrill prattle of the gathering. How
could he sell any warships to Italy even if Italy
wanted warships? The United States wouldn't stand
for that. And how could he sell Italy any mer
chant boats when Italy would want to pay off in
Chianti, spaghetti and olives?
All American reporters in Rome took a whirl at
the noisy man to iearn what he was up to, but fin
ally let him be, and he checked out for Paris. Here
I began to meet old-timers who were in Geneva and
hear from them that Shearer knows his stuff about
naval tonnage comparisons, tonnage and types. So
meeting him again. I asked if he was going to Lon
don to give us once more the benefit of his patriotic
interest in a square deal for the American Navy,
No, he said, he wasn’t going to London this time.
Mr. Shearer is one of those main strength talk
ers. It is impossible to break through his service.
He ignores all efforts to interrupt—a very annoying
trait, because all of us like to crack wise occasion
ally to tell about the time we saw Charlie Chaplin
personally in a railroad station. But you pull your
Charlie Chaplin on him and he will top you with
Winston Churchill. You come back with someone
like Otto Kahn and he will simply knock the racket
out of your hands with King George V., Mussolini
and Franklin D. Roosevelt—“ You know Frank.”
n u
Quite a Versatile Gent
HE is sandy, with a small mustache and not much
hair, and he looks about 55. One minute he is
down in Mexico with oil, next he is in London
managing Queen’s Theater, again in Singapore, then
he is the naval expert and the next thing you
know he is up in a hotel room in Washington with
a United States Senator—and both of them are
cockeyed on 40 whisky sours—telling the Senator
what to say in his important speech on naval re
quirements tomorrow.
_ He stops at the Ritz, and his clothes are pressed.
His business is boats, so his poison concerns th®
British, the pacifists and the Bolsheviki who would
rather we didn't have too many ships.
Fascinated by his- career, I asked Mr. Shearer if
he could play a banjo.
“Yes.” he said, and added with a note of mod
esty, “but only one at a time.”
Gen. Johnson Says—
OKMULGEE, OKLA., Jan. 7.—An editorial says
that it never sounded smart or funny to hear
me sneer at the young men in the New Deal, and
that Prof. Frankfurter has rebuked this “shallow
ridicule” by saying, “Government will need even
better talent than private enterprise” because gov
ernment takes over enterprise “only when individual
initiative has proved its inability to manage it.”
We are told it is wonderful that “Dr. Frankfurter
can persuade young men to work for government at
salaries lower than they could command in the busi
ness world”; that they are “happy hot dogs” be
cause they are idealists. “Democracy can not exist
... if government lacks brain power.”
The only enterprise ever taken over by govern
ment was banking, but not by reason of its better
talent—only by reason of its monopoly of power over
finances and credit in a crisis for which government
management of that power was largely responsible—
at least so Mr. Roosevelt said at Pittsburgh. Be
yond banking, is this a suggestion that government
is going to step in with Happy Hot Dogs to run any
enterprise, whenever they decree inability or decide
that government has better talent? If it is. on the
world’s experience, goodby privately managed news
papers.
tt n n
AT the “brain power” which Dr. Frankfurter has
“persuaded” into government, I did not intend
to sneer or joke. It is no joking matter. I gravely
protested an infiltration of inexperienced young
Socialists into practical control of an Administration
not elected as Socialist but on an adversary plat
form—and their distortion of it. That is almost
political fraud.
Os course Democracy can not exist without brain
power. But a Democratic Administration goes in
pledged to use Democratic and not Socialist brain
power. Socialists have no monopoly either on brain.-
or on the idealism which works for government for a,
pittance. Perhaps these men could earn more. None
that I know ever did.
As the facts are, it is like putting a brilliant mid
shipmate with anew strategy in command of the
British battle fleet at Jutland. I do not feel rebuked.
(Copyright. 1936, by United Feature Syndicate. Ine.).
Times Books
MODERN education has sugar-coated the topics
it tries to teach to the young hopefuls, so that
today school is no longer the dreaded “big house”
from which children of earlier days used to shrink.
So, when a book comes out with an effort to
teach the history of the United States, ana at the
same time entertain its little readers in a way that
they understand and enjoy, that book merely adds a
new chapter to the modem form of teaching.
But when, further, that publication meets the fad
of the day halfway, it should be even more popular
with its prospective readers. The fad, in this case,
is stamp-collecting and the book is “America’s Story
as Told in Postage Stamps.”
Edward M. Allen, its author, happens to be a
teacher of history who is a stamp collector at the
same time. And he had the happy idea, years ago,
of relating the history of the United States to his
pupils, using the illustrations of Uncle Sam’s postage
as his own picture material.
Os course, he couldn’t print these stamps with
the text, because of existing laws prohibiting such
publication, but he has done the next best thing. He
has blocked out spaces for the stamps that Illustrate
his story, and has left them for his young readers
to fill in with the actual postage.
The whole project, therefore, is a combination of
American history, provided in entertaining doses,
and ft album of the stamps of the United States.
yw : . * vr .feS ■<.
Westbrook Pegler