Coral Gables Historical Archive
Coral Gables Riviera
Friday, February 6, 1942, page 6 (of 8)
The page
The text of this pageRead by computer from the scan, so some words may be wrong. The page picture is the original.
CORAL GABLES RIVIERA
AN INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER Published every Friday by the Miami Riviera Publishing Co., 306 Coral Way, Coral Gables, Fla. Established January, 1926 Combined with the Dade County and Coconut Grove Times, 1929. ALBERT E. HARUM President and Publisher JAMES B. MOORE Managing Editor Mailing Address, P. O. Box 704 Telephone 4-1684 Member, Florida Press Association National Editorial Association Represented in the National Advertising Field by the American Press Association, New York City SUBSCRIPTION RATES Six Months | $1.25 One Year | $2.00 Out of Town | $3.00 Entered as second class matter May 21, 1926, at the Postoffice at Miami, Florida, under Act of March 3, 1879.
A Vital Message
Under the heading "Let's Do Some Figuring About Shopping", the merchants of Coral Gables and the Chamber of Commerce have a message in this issue of The Riviera that should be of interest to every resident. The merchants have gotten together some potent facts and figures dealing with your war time shopping budget that will open your eyes to a lot of things. These are critical times and everything we can do to help the general situation should be done. That's why this message from your merchants is of such import. Going into details would only detract from their announcement, but we strongly urge you turn to page 5, immediately and read it for yourself.
Victory and Books
While it is undeniably important that our members of the armed forces read and memorize the Manual of Arms, that famous piece of literature doesn't provide the recreational reading that our soldiers and sailors need. Last week a large local committee launched the Victory Book campaign—and the success of this drive is of primary importance to the morale of our armed forces. Mental diversion is an important element in the structure of the "job well done". With leaves coming few and far between—and short lived when they do come—it is more than ever necessary that we provide healthy, sound reading matter for the boys who are fighting our battle. We most wholeheartedly join in the appeal which the Victory committee is making to Coral Gables residents. Bring your books to your nearest fire station, library or civilian defense headquarters. There's a definite demand on the part of our boys for books on scientific and mathematical subjects.
Boy Scout Birthday
The Boy Scouts of America is celebrating its thirty-second birthday this week. This is an anniversary that the whole Nation could well celebrate—celebrate with thanks in its heart that such an organization exists! The aim and purpose of Scouting—character and citizenship—are the aim and purpose of every democracy. Without these two ideal qualities Democracy becomes a sham—a dictatorship. America was wrested from a wilderness by a determined people—people who had fine character, people who understood the responsibilities as well as the privileges of citizenship. Therefore it was only natural that the ideals of the Scout Movement, as expressed in the Scout Oath and Law, should meet with such widespread approval in this country. Scouting builds men; it develops citizenship. Scouting is American—it is as American as Indian corn, as American as ice cream sodas. Americans accept Scouting because it is continually strengthening and invigorating democracy.
IN OUR MAIL BAG
Editor, The Riviera: This present crisis has brought with it a recognition of the fact that higher education can be condensed into three years by eliminating the "country club" atmosphere of universities, without stinting on education—and it is high time in the opinion of many of us. The individual is certainly the gainer, if he or she receives the cultural background offered by colleges, yet completes the course at a younger age than formerly. I think it should be brought to the attention of school authorities here that they might do their bit toward lowering the age mark at which students are ready to go out into life on their own, by lowering the age minimum at which children may enter elementary schools. Children here are not permitted to enter school until they are within a month of their sixth birthday—on what grounds, I do not know; for in many cities, and in whole states, I have been told, youngsters may enter kindergarten at the age of four, and, if they are mentally mature enough at the close of the first year, go on to regular school work. The child here begins the first at the age of six despite the fact that the work of the first year corresponds to that of kindergarten work. It is definitely discouraging for students from the south meeting cousins and friends of their own age, to learn that said cousins and friends are two to three grades in advance of them in school. I do not believe that the mentally immature should be shoved ahead of their capacities; nor do I believe that school should be an unloading place where parents, weary of caring for their own youngsters, may put the responsibility upon another. But I do think that a study of the capacity for school work of children would reveal that six years is too old for a child to begin kindergarten work. Mrs. C. G. R.
WALTER LIPPMANN
(Continued from Page 1) omy, and on the other hand, because the more Mr. Nelson mobilizes industry for war, the more acute and far-reaching will be the effect on civilian life. The problems of the depression and of the recovery from it were child's play compared with the domestic problems which are now presents. It is inconceivable that Mr. Roosevelt can direct a World War as Commander in Chief and also manage the domestic consequences of a World War. But Mr. Roosevelt is also the leader of the nation in a time of great trial, and this is by no means the least; indeed, it is ultimately the greatest of all his tasks. It is a task that he cannot delegate, except in part as he turns over to Mr. Nelson the whole responsibility for supplying the armed forces and in part as he use the larger responsibility in domestic affairs. For it is necessary that the President should in a crisis of this kind remain close to the people and to their representatives in Congress. On the supreme questions of war and peace, of suffering and sacrifice, successes and failures, they will listen only to him. They must hear from him often, and not only in formal statements drafted by others but in talks which, like the great speeches of Churchill, give them the conviction that they are in the confidence—perhaps seated aside—of the Commander in Chief. This indispensable work cannot be done by a man entangled in the details of price-control, agriculture, taxes, labor relations, housing, the treatment of enemy aliens, doubtful aliens and friendly aliens. It is as necessary for the President to divest himself of immediate personal responsibility for these domestic matters as it has been necessary for him to do what he has, we hope, done in appointing Mr. Nelson. He needs a deputy to the Chief Executive for domestic affairs, someone to clear his desk of these matters, someone to take the battering on domestic issues for him, someone to free his own time and let him concentrate his energy upon his own supreme business—that of leading the people and of being the Commander in Chief. The urgent need for some such reorganization has been shown clearly by the number of things that have happened recently. There is the incident of Secretary Knox's speech to the Conference of Mayors in which, by enter the field of the highest strategy—the field that is pre-eminently and exclusively the President's—Colonel Knox inadvertently ran counter to solemn casiness in China, in the Netherlands Indies, in Australia, perhaps in India, perhaps even in Russia. That kind of thing could not have happened if the President himself had his attention clearly fixed on his own duty as Commander in Chief, and had established the proper discipline among his subordinates. There is the complicated affair of the price-control bill—on the one hand the pressure of the farm bloc which resulted in the incredible O'Mahoney amendment, and quite separately the greatly misunderstood and wholly unnecessary controversy between Secretary Wickard and Mr. Henderson. All this trouble has arisen from the fact that the President could not put his mind on the problem, and no one else had the power to speak for him. The farm bloc got out of hand while Mr. Roosevelt was conferring with Mr. Churchill. Mr. Wickard and Mr. Henderson got into a dispute because there was not one above them both to understand and insist that they were both right, but that each was looking at only one side, rather than at both sides, of the same question. There is the affair of Secretary Wickard's, radio announcement that there will be a shortage of sugar, which is true but can lead only to hoarding—an announcement which should never have been made until the government was ready to announce also a rationing system to deal with the shortage. There is the affair of the office of Civilian Defense, which has never known what it was doing, what it was meant to do, what it had the power to do, or who was to do it. There is the great vacuum where there ought to be a responsible agency planning what is to be done to transport the people back and forth to work as automobiles have to be put in dead storage. All of these are matters which require authority and direction from the Chief Executive. But there are even lighter fa-ult that is now required of the Chief Executive, will they be left undone, or done badly and too late, if there is not some sort of deputy to the Chief Executive. It would be possible to cite many more examples. One final example should be mentioned. In the conduct of a war of this character there must be propaganda abroad, and in our peculiar position, the whole question of the treatment of aliens is closely related to diplomacy, and is fraught with the highest and most far-reaching consequences not only here at home but abroad. The handling of these matters is dispersed among several departments and agencies, operating on different principles and under no coherent and central control. The Department of State, the Department of Justice, Mr. Sherwod's New York branch of Colonol Donovan's office, and Mr. Rockefeller's office are all concerned. But it is not even probable that each knows what the other is doing. It is certain that in this vitally important, but subtle and intricate field of action, there is no one who is in command, no one who is at once sufficiently in the President's confidence and yet also invested with enough authority to conduct the psychological war. Copyright, 1942, New York Tribune, Inc.
Two-Legged Puppy
Crestview—(FNS) In a litter of puppies born to a German police dog, owned by Mrs. H. S. Burkett of Crestview, is a 2-legged animal. The puppy arrived in good health and appears to be normal with the exception that his front legs are missing. Mrs. Burkett has received many cash offers for the freak puppy, but refuses to part with it for any stipulated amount. If it lives, no doubt she will have a very valuable "side show" attraction that any circus would like to own.
OUR TOWN By Jim Moore
A. E. Tipton, the Coral Gables police officer who was responsible for the arrest of the Bayliss Store robber last week, is going to have a lot of salad eating to do in the next few months. Like many other Gables folk, Tip has started a defense garden. The thing that makes this particular garden unique is its location. It is planted in a window box outside of Tip's Ponce de Leon Boulevard apartment, three stories above street level. At his invitation, we went up and had a look at it the other day, and came away amazed. Tip is growing tomatoes—not the Redlands type, but the northern "beef-steak" variety—and they're doing fine, thank you. The seed was sent to him and first placed in seed beds. When the plants appeared above ground, Tip transferred four of them to his apartment window box. When we saw them this week, we counted 50 firm tomatoes on the plants, some of them as large as your fist and still growing. They are all green, and when they reach the ripened stage, they will no doubt be as large as the giant "beef-steaks" imported here. Tip had to stand for a lot of scoffing during the early stages of his experiment. His fellow apartment house dwellers put him through an unmerciful ribbing, telling him that his plants didn't have a chance. Now they pass the heavily laden vines with wide eyes and a respectful attitude. Tipton attributes the success of his tomatoes to two factors mainly—sunshine and Vitamin B-1. The window box is located on the south side of the building where the plants can absorb plenty of the rays of Old Sol. The vitamin B-1 is purchased in liquid form, mixed in water (a few drops to a gallon) and added to the soil. Tip also gives them a shot of Vigoro, a plant food, every now and then. Because they are located on the third floor, high above the ground, the tomatoes are not molested by insect pests or tomato rust, which proves so troublesome to Florida commercial growers. Mrs. A. B. Curry, wife of the city manager, is another "defense gardener". Mrs. Curry has a plot in back of their Toledo Street home where she grows, among other things, okra, radishes, lettuce and tomatoes, to augment her weekly marketing toten. The Herman Browns over on Camilo have also gotten a garden under way; and here and there throughout the Gables, one can spot garden patches in back and side lawns. The Dade County Defense Council is stressing the fact that people who do not do gardening, can do a lot to help in the local defense effort by asking for local fruits and vegetables in the markets. Just south of Coral Gables in the rich Redlands, they are now harvesting crops. Tomatoes, Red Bliss potatoes, beans, squash, beets, cabbage, broccoli and the delicious Iceberg lettuce, all grown just south of here, can now be purchased in market. The Defense Council points out that by buying products that are locally grown, demanding them in the stores, that we can alleviate the transportation problem, brought on by the war. So if you can't grow tomatoes like Officer Tipton or okra like Mrs. Curry, you can at least patronize the growers in this section by asking for their products on your next trip to market.
Mark Sullivan
Let us not speak in terms of years or months. Let us merely say long or short—that this war will be a long war or a short war. Any one who thinks this war will end in a comparatively short time must depend on one reason only. If the end of the war is to come relatively soon it must come by one condition—and some kind of blowup within the Axis, especially within Germany. Collapse within Italy would not be enough, for Germany would, in that case, simply treat Italy as an occupied country. It is collapse within Germany that alone could make the war short. If there is to be any other outcome, if the war's ending is to come through fighting, then the war will be long. As to whether there will be a blowup within Germany, we had best just forget it. No one knows and there is a wide gamut of conflicting assertion. Certainly we cannot depend on it and because we cannot depend on it we had best ignore it. The war will be long and it will be hard. In spite of the recent successes of Russia it is still a fact that Germany is favorable situated for a long war. As for Japan, she has only just begun to fight, in the sense of fighting England and us; and she is in the surge of an immense forward momentum. Geographically Germany is a compact, fighting unit. She fights within a consolidated area. Every spot she fights upon, every spot she owns or controls, or holds through conquest—every spot is in contact with every other spot. She fights within a circle of solid territory. At only one part of the circle is she under attack. And Russia's attack upon Germany, by the very reason of its success, has reached a stage where further success is not more likely but less likely. For the present situation of Germany and Russia, in relation to each other, there is a classic military analogy. The two armies and their respective lines of supply are like coiled springs facing each other. As Russia moves forward, as the distance of Russia's army from its base and capital increases, so does the strength of the spring become less. Conversely, as the German army is forced backward farther and farther, toward its base and capital, the coils of the spring become tighter, its strength greater. What we see now is the reverse of what we saw last summer. Then it was the German army, as a released spring, that was getting farther and farther from its base and capital, thus making the spring weaker. And conversely, it was then the Russian army, forced farther and farther back upon its base and capital, that acquired increased strength, increasing striking force. Only the more optimistic are likely to hope that the present Russian advance will go on until it enters German soil. That would mean such weakening of German strength as could only arise from collapse within Germany; and collapse within Germany had best be ruled out as a factor in the military picture. Any other attack upon Germany, by any other country other than Russia, would need to cross water. There are but three powers able and disposed to attack Germany, and of the three only Russia has an approach by land. Not only would England and the United States need to cross water, the crossing in our case would involve an immense factor of distance. This we must take into account when we estimate our war effort. Of our total exertion perhaps 50 per cent can be actual impact upon Germany, the other 50 per cent must be expanded in getting within reach of Germany. This is the same as saying that we must make twice as great an effort as Germany—in order to be on equal terms with Germany. This is why so much of our effort must be spent upon ships. And there are good judges who believe that in order to defeat Germany (and also Japan) it will be necessary for us to devise an airplane capable of going a greater distance with a heavier load of bombs than now in use. With Japan it is much the same as with Germany. Japan fights inside a circle. While not a circle of solid land, it is composed of so many islands, at such short distances from each other, to be the equivalent. If Japan succeeds in taking the Philippines from us, and Singapore from England, then the circle within which she fights will be some 5,000 miles from our mainland. And her distance from England will be greater. If we comfortably remember that outposts of England, such as Australia, are open to Japan's attack, we must also remember that, for us and the British, getting supplies to Australia is a large military effort subject to interruption by the Japanese naval air forces. There is no tenable course for the United States as a nation, or for any citizen in his management of his own affairs, except to count upon a hard, long war. There are helps—the continued valor of China on Japan's flank, possibly greater success by Russia than is safe to expect. But the sure path to victory is the maximum effort by all of us, as a nation and as individuals. Copyright, 1942, New York Tribune, Inc.
Poet's Corner
GUIDE My Saviour, if the time is now, Before Thy will I meekly bow. I ask Thee, though, to hold my hand, Where Chill winds drift the shifting sand. I need Thee, God, to go with me Across the lonely, tragic sea, Which lies beyond the earthly strand, Yet washes, too, the promised land. EVOLUTION Inflated leader, you who live by talk, Yet by your practice make your creed a mock, You, wordy cockroach, take the Kelly flight To bathe, tomorrow, in eternal light. MATE Beloved woman, gift of earth Beyond the mete of mortal worth, As I approach the lonely strand, Where we depart the living land, Wait close beside the failing me And take me over the fearful sea. Companion, mate, forever true, Until life ends, I shall need you. BANGTAILS Habana is the Cuban source From which our avocados course. Now, growers here have time and place To wager where the bangtails race. IN GOD WE TRUST Our money says, IN GOD WE TRUST, Which sounds like sense for men of dust. If we trust any other one, Why don't we put it on our mon? WEAK WORD Death is mis-named a rendezvous, Too frail the term; oh Father Time. For that last mortal mile with you Death needs a word that is sublime. —LORIN JONES
ONE'S ON THE HOUSE
NICKLE'S WORTH—Victor Fenicle is a bus driver with a great, big heart. It was Sunday afternoon and Victor was bringing his bus with about six passengers east on Bird Road. As he approached the bridge, which adjoins the picturesque twelfth hole of the Miami Biltmore golf course, the Red Cross exhibition match, made up of such ranking stars as Georgia Tainter, recent winner of the Biltmore National Woman's Golf Tournament; her runner-up, Dorothy Kirby, Georgia state champion; Craig Wood, national open champion, and Ben Loving, winter professional at the Biltmore, were also approaching the green with a huge gallery in attendance. Fenicle stopped his bus at the bridge, his passengers with one accord ran to the bridge rail and there with an unparalled view of the twelfth hole, watched the famous four-hole out. The whole episode took only about six minutes. The passengers reboarded the bus and probably thanked a thoughtful driver who had permitted them to see "stars in action" all for the price of five cents. NOCTURNAL GNAWINGS—Our research department dug up the fact the other day that many Gablesites are middle-of-the-night eaters. Supplier of the information was Mannie Hollander who states that many a night he doesn't get to close his delicatessen until 2 and 3 a.m. because hungry Gablesites keep drifting in for a snack. Incidentally, the delicatessen idea has caught on so well that Mannie is already thinking about enlarging (and we don't mean Coral Gables' waistline). TURN ABOUT—We were sitting in Tom Manning's office at the Coral Theater when a seedy looking individual came weaving in to put the bite on Tom for 20 cents. "Sorry," said Manning, "but I have only two cents in my pocket and it's tied thru with car fare." The little man blinked, sniffed and turned to leave with the comment, "Migawsh, you're worse off than I am."