Coral Gables Riviera

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 Charles S. Leyden Advertising Manager Gertrude Hardeman Circulation Manager Helen Reynolds Society Editor Edythe Farley Credit Manager Mailing Address, P. O. Box 704 Telephone 4-1634 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.

Peace With Honor

The Woman's Club controversy with the city is settled. A problem which has created much feeling on both sides has been solved by taking a given set of facts and applying a dose of good, hard common sense. From this vantage point it would seem that there was considerable ado about very little. Actually, though, the Woman's Club should be commended for so valiantly defending what the ladies honestly and sincerely believed to be their rights. Any group which can command the enthusiasm, hard work and interest that were displayed throughout the arguments must be a group worth belonging to. Perhaps the network of argument might have been shredded a long time ago if the matter had not been shrouded with legal language, but, be that as it may, both sides in this encounter have come out of it bloody but unbowed. It was a gentlemen's quarrel; a gentlemen's agreement has come out of it; and, most important, the contenders are still both gentlemen, figuratively speaking.

Think of Them

Mr. Willard Ware has provided the cue for heads of other business institutions in Coral Gables by occasionally setting aside a kind thought and a carton of cigarettes for those who left the service of his company to serve Uncle Sam. Mr. Ware has probably lost more than his share of manpower, and so the fact is more poignant in his case. But that would make it easier for those employers who have lost only one or two men. Wrap up a carton of cigarettes for the boys who once worked for you end who are now fighting our battle against the Nazi menace.

A FABLE AND A FORECAST

A Donkey, a Goose and a Skunk Decided to form a coalition To govern the Annmal Kingdom, And thereby improve its condition. The Donkey would constantly bray "Our culture has come here to stay." The Lions and Tigers objected, As did the Antelope, even the Deer, The Elk wished they could have perfected Some plans that would fill them with fear, Like training the two-barreled Mule To kick their careers for a goal. Hold on. Said the Bull, let me gore them, All peace-loving creatures abhor them, Let Scorpions sting them, In the sea let us fling them, Davie Jones may object, but he'll store them. Just now there is no more to say Except they soon will go away, The Goose on the back of the Donkey The Skunk with his soul-mate, the Monkey. TOM HENDERSON.

SOLO BASEBALL—The other day we noticed a young man having a lively game of baseball all by himself on Minorca Avenue. We definitely had the advantage—the solo diamond star didn't know we were watching or listening. Grabbing the bat and tossing the ball up into the air with his other hand, the youngster made a clean swipe at the ball, missing it. "Ball one," he shouted, assuming for the moment the umpire's cloak of authority. The ball was tossed up again, and again the youthful player missed it cleanly. "Ball two," he shouted. And so on it went until the fourth ball, when the boy apparently decided that in the interests of fairness and honesty he had better call a strike. Finally he hit a long one. "There he goes again!" shouted the youngster. "It's the last half of the ninth and he comes through with a homer. Rah, rah, rah!"

Walter Lippmann

The weakest link in the war effort, as every one knows, is shipping. And the most disconcerting thing that has been said about the situation has, I believe, been said by Mr. Alfred Friendly, of "The Washington Post," a reporter who has done yeoman service in the long and ultimately successful struggle to pass from business-as-usual to an all-out production. Mr. Friendly said the other day that "the Maritime Commission has suffered from good publicity. Favorable comments on its activities have hurt it, and the war effort, just as much as" sharp and unfavorable and insistent criticism "has aided the Ordnance Department, the Office of Civilian Defense and the War Production Board's industry branches." In many essential respects shipping today resembles strongly the condition of production before the reorganization of Mr. Donald Nelson and the decision to convert the automobile and other mechanical industries. Mr. Knudsen had done much, he has labored hard. Mr. Knudsen, like Mr. Land, was trusted and liked by every one, and few had the heart to criticize. Yet it was a fact that production could not move from a heavy to a war basis until the OPM had been reorganized. Today, though transportation on ships is our most serious problem, a reorganization of Admiral Land's authority will be needed if the problem is to be solved. To say this is no reflection on Admiral Land. It is to say only that he occupies a position and is carrying a responsibility which is beyond his powers, or those of any other man. "My job," he has said "is ships, building them, operating them." As "Fortune" magazine has pointed out, "although technically under Mr. Nelson and the WPB, Land really is master on his own bridge, with undisputed powers over the merchant marine, from the laying of keels to the management of trade routes." The question is whether any one man can hope to run and the same time to build the ships and to operate them—to direct the greatest production program in the history of shipbuilding and at the same time to direct the operation of ships on all the supply lines of this world-wide war. No one else has such a mixture of responsibilities; and in view of the importance of shipping it is not only a very reasonable but a very urgent question why Admiral Land should have such a mixture of responsibilities. No one would think of asking Admiral King to operate the Navy and at the same time to direct naval construction. No one would think of asking General Marshall to command the Army and also to manage the aircraft factories, the tank arsenals and the ordnance plants. No one would think of asking Mr. Nelson to operate the bombers and the tanks that he builds. Why in the name of common sense should Admiral Land then be expected to build and to operate the merchant marine? Is it not plain that ships ought to be built by some one who is a master of the art of production? And that, in wartime, ships ought to be operated by some one who sits with the directors and the highest war strategy, and makes his decisions accordingly, with full and desponsible knowledge of the military and diplomatic circumstances? How can one man think about steel plates, and wage rates, and ship designs; and also, simultaneously, think and plan about ships for Europe, ships for Africa, ships for Asia, ships for South America? It is no reflection on Admiral Land to say that his job is beyond him. It would be beyond anyone else. He has an impossible job, and if he is wise he will advise the President to reorganize the job by placing the building of ships under a production manager — not necessarily a shipbuilder who is responsible to Mr. Nelson — by placing the operation of ships under some one, not necessarily a shipping man, who sits as an equal with those who have the strategical direction of the war. Admiral Land has built and is building a good many ships. But he is not by his training or talent a Sorensen or a Keller or a Henry Kaiser—a master of the art of production. And until a man of that calibre and quality is in charge of the building of ships, we shall not be getting all the ships this country is capable of building. We shall not get the simplification of design, the simplification of method, the economy of materials and the effort of time which are achieved when a master producer takes charge, be it of the building of big bombers, or of tanks, or of anti-aircraft guns. Admiral Land also has operated ships successfully. But the operation of ships in war is a very different thing from the operation of a merchant marine in peace time. The controlling considerations in war are radically different; and though it would be difficult to prove this, there is little in the public record to indicate that Admiral Land thinks of giving the kind of concentrated attention to operating the merchant fleet as an instrument of war that Admiral King give to operating the naval fleet. Yet the operation, is in some ways more complicated, and ought to be directed with as much singlemindedness and with the same sense of its tremendous and primary importance. Shipping is one of the few large areas in which the spirit of business as usual still holds on hard. It holds on hard in the building of ships, where adherence to traditional designs and traditional methods is a strong retarding factor. It holds on hard in the use of ships, where secondary considerations, and too low an estimate of what can be done, and too soft an estimate of what people will put up with to win the war, stand in the way of a drastic concentration of shipping for essential military purposes. The shipping problem can be mastered, as indeed it must be mastered. But first there will have to be a reorganization as drastic as that which liquidated the OPM and the policy of business as usual. (Copyright, 1942, New York Tribune, Inc.)

MEMORY'S FLOWERS

Stars of the summer night That shone so long ago, Now the fields are white, White with drifted snow. Yet lingers still perfume From the dusk of long ago, And in my heart roses bloom, Crimson against the snow. BY GEORGE ANNA HARBESON

Mark Sullivan

The purpose of the new measure now being prepared by the Ways and Means Committee of the House is to get more money for the Government—by increase of existing taxes, by new taxes, or by other ways. Among the other ways proposed is 'forced saving." To say, at this stage, that 'forced saving" is likely to be written into the first draft or the coming law would be too much. But it is accurate to say that this proposal gets more and more support in Washington, and that future developments are likely to increase the support. Forced savings means, in this case, that all persons receiving wages, salaries or other form of remuneration from any employer would be obliged by law to put a certain portion of their income into government bonds. Various ways of carrying out the process are proposed. By a common proposal an employee receiving, let us say, $50 a week would be paid $45 in cash. The remaining $5 would be given him in the form of a government bond. The bond would not be transferable. That is, the person receiving it could not sell it. He could only collect it from the Government when it falls due, which would be approximately at the end of the war. The purpose of this is to make sure that the bond will really be savings, and that it will be available to the owner when the war ends—when presumably there may be unemployment and the owner of the bond may have need of the money. Thus, analyzed, it will be seen that forced savings is really an enlarged form of the social security tax. To present small deduction from pay or social security, 1 per cent would be added, 5 per cent or 10 per cent or 20 per cent—whatever may be decided on, for forced saving. Few workers object to the social security tax. Probably few would object to a tax amounting to forced saving if the amount were not excessive. To the individual the advantage of forced saving is that he would have money when the need comes; or, if the need does not come, he would have that much capital. The individual may object, saying he prefers to do his own saving in his own way. But in war time we are all obliged to give up many ways of spending it. We cannot spend it on automobiles, or, beyond a small limit, on gas or tires. And if a great many persons should start to save money by, for example, buying land with it, land would go to a price which would cause economic and social chaos. Either that, or the Government would be obliged to put a ceiling on the price of land. To the Government the advantage of forced saving is tht the Government would get money to pay for the war. This new source of money would be in addition to the present sale of war bonds. The two would go on together. But to the Government, as to all of us, forced saving would have a great advantage additional to the raising of money. Forced saving would be one means, and as most helpful means, of preventing inflation—preventing an extravagant rise in prices of everything and a disastrous rise in the cost of living. If everybody who receives wages and other remuneration at wartime rates is free to do with all of it as he wishes, many will wish to buy goods. Because some goods are hardly to be had at all, such as automobiles, and all goods are limited in quantity, the demand for them would boil and finally explode. Hardly could any government price ceiling hold prices down. Just because forced saving would help prevent inflations is the largest reason for the increasing support it gets in Washington. Any summary of the spirit and attitude of both the Administration and Congress would say there is a real wish to hold inflation in check. In that wish officials and members of Congress who formerly opposed certain measures now accept them. The whole problem of a new tax bill—a new will for getting more money—is plain. The Government, as an incident of war, pays out great quantities of money. The problem of the Government is to get back such a quantity of that money as will help pay for the war and prevent inflation. Much of the money goes to corporations and business man. For taxing this and taking it heavily, the machinery already exists. Under the present tax law, or the one about to be passed few corporations will be allowed to keep more than a tiny fraction of the excess profits they make on war contracts. A large proportion of the money paid out by the Government for war goes to wage earners. The quantity they will receive this year, in excess of last year or in normal years, amounts to billions. Some of this the Government will get back by increasing taxes on small incomes. Some of it could get back by forced saving. (Copyright, 1942, New York Tribune, Inc.)

This ONE'S ON You

WHAT'S IN A NAME?—The Army was checking into the Antilla Hotel and the staff sergeants were busy taking the names as the boys reported at the desk. One lad jotted down a name that looked something like "Szgyzgptsy." "How in hades do you pronounce that?" growled the harassed sergeant. "Ya don't pronounce it," came the quick retort. "Ya whistle it!" APPRECIATED—In the newspaper and printing business one gets accustomed to complaints, beefs and fault-findings. We don't know of another business, excepting maybe the bistros, that everybody else Lnows how to run better than those that are in it. It was doubly appreciated, therefore, when Mrs. Charles Brand phoned this week to comment on a year book we recently printed for the Woman's Association of the First Presbyterian Church of Coral Gables. "It was neat, correct, a good job and everybody in the association liked it," she said. Thank you, Mrs. Brand—newspaper folk are human, after all, and like to feel that they are appreciated every now and then. KIND THOUGHTS—We got a big kick out of something we noticed in the office of Gas-Oil Products in the Gables. We went in to pay a business call and noticed Miss Marietta Gamble, secretary to Willard Ware, wrapping up six cartons of cigarettes. Curious, we asked Miss Gamble if she were six-timing some boys in the service. "No," she replied (not indignantly); "these cigarettes are for the six boys who left our company to go help win the war." Inquiring further, we found out that the cartons were going to the following: William Lingo, who had been a service manager for the company for five years and who left last Friday to be commissioned a lieutenant in Uncle Sam's Navy. Herbert J. Mills, formerly manager of the Fort Lauderdale store for Gas-Oil Products, now in the air school at Albuquerque, N. M. William McCaskill and Mervin Anderson, both with the Navy in Key West. Sergeant John Lynch, now in New Jersey, and Charles Bessler, now assigned to Camp Blanding. RIGHT ADDRESS—In this week's mail was a letter from Zompa Selznick, Coral Gables policeman, who turned in his badge to join Uncle Sam's army. We discerned that Zompa was suffering a twinge of nostalgia from the address, which read, "Editor, Coral Gables Riviera (City of Heaven), Florida."

by Jim Moore

Every Coral Gables housewife, employing domestics, has been made a law enforcement officer with a serious responsibility. Their duties don't include patroling the streets with a nightstick and gun, nor are they expected to apprehend speeding motorists or issue parking tickets. But the success of the ordinance, requiring health and identification cards for domestics, depends largely upon whether or not the housewife enforces it. It seems to us that this responsibility should be accepted gladly. This law is designed for the protection of the residents of Coral Gables—it was promulgated to safeguard their health. If 100 per cent registration can be effected, the spread of contagious, infectious and venereal diseases can be greatly curtailed. No housewife wants a cook, handling the food in her kitchen, who is diseased and who could pass the malady on to her family. Nor does anyone want a yardman, working on the premises, who is a fugitive from justice. This ordinance can prevent both from occurring. Here's how it works: 1—Send your servants to the clinic at 2506 Ponce de Leon Boulevard any Monday before 11 A. M. There the applicant will be given a blood test and a record made of his or her physical condition. The applicant then takes the receipt from the clinic to the Coral Gables police station, also on any Monday before 11 A. M. There fingerprints will be taken, an identification record made, and the health receipt stamped to show that the applicant has reported to the police. 3—This identification record is immediately sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, where it is recorded and checked against existing files there. It is usually returned in about three weeks. 4—With the record back from Washington, a combination identification and health card, containing a picture, fingerprints, description and health certificate is issued to the applicant. 5—If the card is returned from the clinic marked "POZ," indicating the presence of a venereal disease, the applicant must undergo treatment once weekly, either at the physician of his choice or at the Miami County clinic. It should not be necessary to dwell at length on the importance of seeing that this ordinance is enforced. You owe it to your family and yourself to see that your domestic is free from disease and has a clean record. You would be amazed if you could see some of the identification cards that come back from the FBI. Several fugitives have been discovered, working right here in Coral Gables homes. One murderer was discovered, employed as a yard man at a large residence in this community. What can you do? First (and do it today) ask your servant to show you his or her health and identification card. If there is none, send the domestic to the clinic next Monday morning. Insist that the application be made immediately. Keep after the servant until you know that the card has been applied for. A receipt is issued to every ones. The entire cost of the operation is only 75 cents, or if the applicant has a certificate of health from a recognized physician, the cost of the identification card is only 35 cents. These cards must be renewed every six weeks—so even if your servant had a card when hired, check to make sure it has been brought up to date. Keep reminding them, so you will be sure that the cards are renewed at regular intervals. These cards must be carried at all times, so see that this is done, too.

Book Briefs

"The Story of Everyday Things," by Arthur Train, Jr. (Harper and Brothers). (Reviewed by LOUISE LEYDEN) At this particular time when machines and machine-made things are the order of the day, there comes a new book giving the history and stressing the significance of things which have smoothed and softened man's life on this continent since earliest times. This ambitious work by Arthur Train, Jr., goes into detail to describe the American way of life from the red man down to the present, going even beyond the present in the epilogue when he envisions things to come for the next hundred years. "The Story of Everyday Things" is divided into three books, each book covering the various sections of the country during a stated period and bringing to light the influence of the Spanish, the French, the Dutch and the English upon our civilization. Houses, transportation, industry, furniture, clothes food, agriculture and life in the community are discussed fully in each chapter. Craftsmanship reaches its climax in Book Two. Here the author describes the golden era when this superb art nobly flourished and expanded into full flower, giving to everyday utensils examples of Georgian architecture and gracefully turned-out pieces of furniture. With the advent of the first machine craftsmanship begins its steady decline, giving way in Book Three to the child of man's ingenious brain. Basing the prophecies of the epilogue upon the actualities of today, Mr. Train points out some of the things science will bring to us in the future. Things in the laboratory today will become the everyday things of tomorrow. These, he states, will extend into all phases of living, especially the home, completely revolutionizing the course of the future and giving to man leisure to be used as he pleases. The Story of Everyday Things" is profusely illustrated with notable examples throughout its four hundred pages.