Coral Gables Historical Archive
Coral Gables Riviera
Friday, May 29, 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, Florida 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.
Challenge Met
Diplomas in hand, graduates of the University of Miami faced a world at war Monday as commencement exercises were concluded at the Miami Biltmore Country Club. All over the nation similar scenes will be enacted during the next few days as colleges and universities send forth thousands of young men and women eager to make their place in the world. These young people are in accord 100 per cent on their immediate future prospects. They realize that there is a job to be done before they can set about on their chosen careers. Their personal ambitions must be shelved until complete victory over the Axis powers has been achieved. This personal sacrifice is being made willingly, yes, eagerly. Caps and gowns will soon be put away, awaiting another graduation class. Every graduate who is physically able will be doing his or her part in the war effort. Young America meets the challenge!
Victory Trap
The American Golf Association has adopted a golf innovation made by Fred B. Snite, which we hope will soon make its appearance on the two golf courses in the Gables. The well-known Miamian, with an eye to extracting a few more shekels for the U. S. O., suggests that golf pros select the sand trap on their own course which seems to attract the most of his clients' shots, and designate it the "U. S. O. trap." Every gentleman who smacks his golf ball into the trap must cough up a quarter to go to the service organization in the community, and every lady golfer is to be penalized 10 cents. It's a swell idea—and if it doesn't improve the language of those who land in the trap, at least they'll have the pleasure of knowing that even a dubbed shot can be of some value. How about it, Dud and Ned?
Book Briefs
"Air Raid Defense," by Curt Wachtel (Chemical Publishing Co., Inc.) Reviewed by LOUISE LEYDEN Perhaps no recent book is as important at the moment to the greatest number of people as this small volume written in behalf of civilian defense. "Air Raid Defense" is not intended as a guide for air raid wardens alone, but a handbook for every person in every walk of life who may at some unexpected, or expected hour, be confronted with the serious situations emanating from air attacks. The author, a resident of America for many years, has, through his special knowledge of chemistry as applied to modern warfare, set down much that civilians should know regarding totalitarian war. He tells explicitly and clearly how to combat any emergency that may arise. Poisonous gasses are discussed to some extent, from their chemical content to the detection of them, the writer stating what one can and must do to protect himself from them. The reader learns how to fight fires caused by incendiary bombs and by high explosive bombs. He also learns the effects of explosive bombs and the best protection against them as well as the proper method of extinguishing a bomb of the incendiary type. There is a chapter on air raid shelters with their ventilation of the various types designed for protection against bombs of different weights. There are also chapters devoted to rescue work and to first aid. This book, although filled with hard, cold facts, is, nevertheless, of prime interest as the war draws nearer our own shores these uncertain days. It should prove beneficial in all phases of civilian defense. (Incidentally, this book may be found in the Coral Gables Library.)
In Our Mail
Editor, The Riviera: Speaking for the Presbyterians—thanks for the line-up of churches as appearing in last week's Riviera. Such co-operation is very valuable to all the churches of our community. NEVIN H. SCHAFF, Pastor.
WALTER LIPPMANN
A statement about shipping issued at the White House for publication in the Sunday newspapers gave this conclusion that: "The progress made thus far is easing our shipping problem, but there will be a shortage of ships until sinkings throughout the world are brought under better control and the ship-building program gets into full production. "The American people can be assured that the shipyards will do the job assigned to them." Neither in what it says nor what it leaves unsaid is this, I submit, a realistic report on the shipping problem. The grim truth is that ships are being sunk faster than they are being built; that almost certainly the German submarines are coming into action faster than we are making them; that while the need for shipping is increasing in order to supply our outposts, and our main warfronts in the Pacific, in the Middle East, in Russia and in Great Britain, the supply of available ships is diminishing. If any one, then, allows himself to become "groggy" or to believe that the shipping problem is being "eased," that it is not critically serious and of decisive importance on the outcome and length of the war, he is not facing the facts. The brightest aspect of the picture is the one which the White House statement dwells upon, namely, the fact that the shipyards are now geared up to fabricate an immense number of ships. The capacity of the yards is now beyond anything ever attempted in the history of shipbuilding, and if this fabricating capacity could be put to full use, the output of ships in the next eighteen months would be enormous. But this is not, actually he does not depend primarily on the shipyards, but on the flow of materials and parts to these shipyards. That is why there are many who, recognizing what Admiral Land and Admiral Vickery have accomplished in the shipyards, nevertheless argue that the basic problem of ship production has not been mastered. The fabricating yards are the end of the process of production, but only the end of it, and that is why we shall not be able to speak of the success of the shipbuilding program until the war production board has organized much more effectively the flow of materials. This has not yet been done. To get it done will require radical measures within the Government and the pressure of constructive criticism outside. Mr. Nelson and his associates will need a great deal of strong public support if they are to overcome the inertia of government departments and the routine of private business and thus be able to allocate and ration and regulate among the vast number of primary and intermediate producers. Rationing gasoline is child's play compared with this problem, and much more decisive upon it. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the shipping problem cannot be solved merely by building ships, and it is a very dangerous error to think that we can build more ships than the Axis can sink. As things are going now the equivalent or more than the whole year's output of the American shipyards will be at the bottom of the sea even if the program is fully realized. With the ships that are being sunk faster than they can be built there go down the precious cargoes and the even more precious lives of the crews. We have, therefore, no ground whatever for any such complacency feeling as the White House statement could lead the people to have, and it is the immediate duty to cast aside all complacency over the shipping problem. We are not solving it, and we are not even holding it. The problem is getting the better of us, and no matter how favorable the news from Europe seems for the moment to be, if we do not master the shipping problem we cannot play our part in the war, we cannot hasten or even participate effectively in the decision. The critical point now is in the use and protection of ships. These two are much more closely related than might at first appear. It is plain that by taking extraordinary measures, it would be possible to use at the disposal of the war more ships than now seem to be available. This was done in 1918, and it can be done again. But as to the use of ships. More and more ships are used to carry the war to the enemy—by reinforcing the British air offensive and the Russian front, by making possible commando raids and the occupation of strategic point—they make all shipping safer. A ship that carries to England a load of bombs that are then dropped on a submarine base not made shipping in the Carribean that much safer. The more we utilize our existing supply of ships for the offensive against the enemy, the faster is our defense against the enemy's submarines. Therefore, we should make drastic sacrifices and take large risks in regard to imports and exports in order to assemble ships for the military offensive. But at the same time we cannot afford not to do more than we are doing to protect the ships that we send out and to rescue the crews. It is plain, of course, that the resources of the Navy are strained severely by the task of escorting convoys to Australia, to Britain, Iceland and Russia. There are critical spots like ours, and they call for most of the combat ships which can be spared from the battle line for such purposes. But the light of the merchant fleet is so serious that we cannot rest content until we set out to deal with it in a spirit like that the Dunkerque, where anything that floated was put to work. We must assume that if the task of protecting these unprotected ships and, at the very least, of doing more to rescue the crews, were given to young officers who have been in action in this war, a good deal could be improvised with the help of the fishermen and the yachtsmen and the merchant seamen and the airmen themselves. It was a group of young officers who solved the submarine problem in 1918, and while we wait for the delivery of enough orthodox combat ships to master the submarines, it would be reassuring if something of the same sort were at least being attempted. (Copyright, 1942, New York Tribune, Inc.) TRAGEDY—There's a certain pup here in the Gables that deserves a severe case of indigestion. Friends were calling on the dog's owner the other evening, and one lady caller reached in her pocketbook to take out a hankie. As she withdrew it, her B-3 gas ration card fell to the floor. Quick as a flash the "playful" canine grabbed the card and made off with it. Before they could grab him, he had chewed off six gallons of gasoline!
More Unemployment
By Brown [Cartoon text: "(ANT HAPPEN! I'VE ALWAYS FIXED THE PRICES! PRIVATE BUSINESS. PRICE DEPT. HERE'S YOUR HAT! HENDERSON'S PRICE CONTROL OLD MAN SUPPLY AND DEMAND RICE PRICE TAG BROWN"]
This ONE'S ON YOU
SOLDIERS WELCOME—Last Saturday night, two soldiers from the Antilla Hotel wandered into the Community House, where the Junior Woman's Club was throwing a party for the cast of the recent cabaret. Overcome with embarrassment when they discovered it was a private shindig, they started to make their apologies and leave, but the young ladies insisted that they stay. An hour passed, and the two boys seemed to be having such a good time that the club members sent up to the Antilla for 40 more soldiers, who came eagerly and joined in the festivities. * * * GROWING UP—Mrs. Malcolm McDonald, our favorite older son's Sunday School teacher, dropped into the office the other day to inform us regarding the bairn's transfer to another class. It all happened last Sunday when Mrs. McDonald was calling the class roll. When she came to our son's name, she repeated it several times. "I'm sure," she said, "that Albert was just here." "Yes, he was," said one of the other pupils. "But he's grown up now, so he's gone over to a class with bigger children." * * * "I'LL SHOOT"—One of our Gables police officers was patrolling his beat last week. His beat was near one of the hotels occupied by the air cadets. Looking up, our officer friend noticed a figure clinging to the side of the building. "Come down, there," commanded the officer. "I'm a cadet," shouted the figure in a tremulous voice. "How do I know you're a cadet?" asked the officer. "Come down or I'll shoot." "OK," said the cadet. Then he dropped 25 feet to the ground. It turned out he was just going out for one more beer after "taps." * * * WHIPOORWILL—Sam Sparks, who lives in the apartment house at 42 Sidonia, had quite a bit of trouble with a whipoorwill a week or so ago. It seems that Sam was hitting the pillow at a great rate when the whipoorwill launched into his native call. Whip-poor—will!" called the whipoorwill. And Sam tossed a little in the 4 A. M. heat. "Whip-poor—will!" the bird repeated again and again. By this time Sam was up and around attempting to locate the bird who was so eloquent at such an early hour. Finally Sam could stand no more—so he called the police department and a police car arrived on the scene. Much excitement ensued—in the course of which the whipoorwill took his departure. * * * SPRING SONG—Mrs. Freddie Fuller was evidently smitten with the muse of Spring this week, for she came into the office with the following masterpiece, inspired by the activities at Salvador Park: "It's spring at Salvadore Park. The daily softball games prove it conclusively, and no other calendar is needed. "'Working up' with variable rules to fit the various players is now at its height of popularity. The early spring squad has produced some teams of which to be proud for the past several years. They've beaten the Beach, Coconut Grove and have been runners-up in the Dade County summer tournaments. "There are a few dads, a baby sister or two, and an occasional mom working out once in a while this year, and on the whole the boys are younger. When school is out the boys will seriously get to work developing teams for the tournaments. "'We want to boast a little. They're so good and get along so well. Here, at last, is one place in the world where peace reigns. And they're precious—in anybody's ball game. "'Spring! Leaning far towards summer.'"
Mark Sullivan
The tax urogram now being written in tentative form by the House Ways and Means Committee as a search for new revenue. Not merely more revenue—but new forms of revenue, new sources to tap. The search starts from the fact, known to all, that there is—in the country's pockets, tills and banks—a great quantity of money, put there by the Government through its vast purchases of war material. The problem of the Ways and Means Committee is to get back some of this money, especially by taxation, but also by borrowing. The new money can be divided into two kinds, according to where it now is. Some is in the hands of corporations and business men in the form of profits on war contracts. For getting back most of this the Government already has ways. One way is the "excess profits" tax, tentatively fixed at 94 per cent. Another way is by the tax rates of individual incomes, so graduated as to take a very large portion of the upper parts of large incomes. These rates already, in the tax law of 1940, were as high as 25 per cent on that part of an individual's income, which is over $20,000 a year—an on up to 74 per cent on the upper part of extremely large incomes. Some of these rates were increased last year and will be still further increased by the tax measure now being written. By such rates on individual incomes, and by the excess profits tax, the Government will get back as much as is practicable of the new money going into the hands of business men, corporations and their stockholders. Getting back this part of the new money involves nothing novel or difficult. But there is another part—much the larger part—of the new money. It is that which goes into the pockets of wage earners. Wage earners who two or three years ago earned 50 cents an hour now earn $1 or $1.50. Many who then were employed only half time or less, perhaps as little as 100 days in a year, now work every day. Workers who then earned $1,000 in a year now earn $2,000, $3,000 or $4,000. The aggregate of new money going into the hands of wage earners is enormous. The necessity of getting back a considerable portion of the wage earner's new money is the thing in the tax bill now being drafted. For this purpose some five devices are proposed. One is simply to increase the rates on lower incomes. Some increase will certainly be made. A second device is to lower the exemptions—that is tax a larger portion of the income. At present an unmarried person pays tax only on that part of his income which is above $750. It is proposed to reduce this exemption to $500. Some reduction is very likely to be made from the present exemptions of both single and married. Lowering the exemption creates a new problem. Millions of persons who in the past have paid no tax will have to pay a few dollars, or at least make cut returns. Examining returns is an expense to the Government. To offset this, it is suggested that every person making out a return pay a tax of $5 or so, as a kind of service charge. A fourth suggestion is a sales tax on everything anybody buys with some exemptions such as food. A final suggestions says it would be a pity to take from workers, in taxes, any considerable portion of the good earnings they are now making; that this is their opportunity to accumulate savings. The new suggestion, instead of requiring men to pay heavy taxes, would substitute, for part of the taxes, what is called "compulsory savings." A worker, and everybody else receiving any form of remuneration, would be required to (Please turn to Page 8)
JIM MOORE
By Jim Moore JIM MOORE There are few people in this town that do not know Cullen Cain, former well-known sports writer and once publicity director of the National League. Cullen has been a familiar figure on the Boulevard since 1938, when he purchased a home here. Genial and with a keen sense of humor, folks in the business district are always glad to see Cullen drop in for a few cheery words. Cullen never lost his interest in baseball or newspapers when he retired. He often came into The Riviera office to get a whiff of printer's ink and "talk shop." So it was with a great deal of pleasure that Cullen went to St. Petersburg this summer to again sit in the press box "with the boys," watch the big leaguers play and chew the fat about times past. Every now and then Cullen would bat out a story for his son's paper, the St. Louis County Leader, that still revealed the punch that made his "Man In Mail" column in the Philadelphia Public Ledger nationally known. All his life Cullen has been troubled by poor eyesight, and in late years it has continually grown worse. He has always realized that some day there would come the lowering of the curtain of darkness, but he never spoke of it with dread. So it was this summer, and, coincidentally, just as he pecked out the last words and wrote "30" to a story for his son, that darkness descended. Now, to most of us, blindness would mean defeat and bitterness. But not to Cullen Cain. Several weeks after his eyes ceased to function, Cullen wrote another article. This time it was not batted out on the old typewriter, but dictated to a friend. Because it contains a message of hope—such a great wealth of the feeling that we all need so much today, we are reprinting it here—for all those who know Cullen, and for those who don't, to read, think about and gain inspiration. * * * "They have had blackouts for the past two years or so in Europe, and they have even been making tests lately of blackouts in American cities on both seaboards. I, myself, have had a blackout, and it seems to be a permanent one. "This blackout of mine marks the end of a newspaper trail that started some forty years ago in Missouri and led on to the Pacific Coast and clear back across the country to the Delaware River, and even to the Hudson. "Now, I might howl like a wounded wolf over this sudden blackout, but it would not do a bit of good, and folks would not want to come within a mile of me. And then I bethink me I was threatened with a blackout while working in Chicago some twenty-two years ago, and was given enough light to make my way to the Atlantic seaboard. Ten years ater my sight was threatened again and still enough light was left me to wend my way back to Missouri. Then, some two and a half years ago, an operation gave me better sight than I had known for many a long year. So, my friends, I would have to have a lot of crust and no appreciation at all to howl very loud over my present plight after those twenty-two long, pleasant years of grace. "Some weeks ago, while down in the Cardinal-Yankee training camp in Florida, I wrote a baseball column. By some strange coincidence, with the last words of the last paragraph of that column went the last glimmer of sight. It is now a matter of deep satisfaction to me that I played the old newspaper game down to the last card in the deck, and to the last bit of tallow in the sputtering candle. "Now, my friends, I come to the main point and the main reason for this aftermath of a column, plucked out by the tolerance of the Junior Partner and the aid of a good Samaritan, L. M. Aldridge. "We are, most of us, prone to fret and fume and complain loudly about the minor bereavements of life. But when fate strikes us a real blow, most of us stagger back under it for a little while and then manage to press on. How do we do it? It came to me the other day and I will try to tell you about it. "There comes a time in the lives of many men when the ordinary sources of their inner strength and fortitude of their soul fail them and they fall back half beaten and almost dismayed from the task. Then, as I believe to be His Name, the Master of all good workmen the hidden away in the depths of our heart and soul reinforcements of courage and cheerfulness which He has ordained shall not come to our rescue until time of great need. "My friends, the darkness oppressed me at first, and my heart was faint, and my soul was fearful. Then came the reinforcements from, I know not where, and every time I falter or start to mutter, I hear the music of the military bands of this morning, come and see the gleam of their bayonets as they hasten forward to turn the tide of battle in my favor. "To the friends who have followed this column for some eight or nine years, I wanted to tell about this mysterious help so they would not think that I was very brave or boastful when I declare unto them that I am getting along very well in this blackout, and that I still smile some and can still jest with a friend. "Kipling once declared that there will come a time when 'The Master of all good workmen shall put us to work anew.' We all know that every eye that now looks out on the beauty and sadness of this gray, grand old world will one day be closed in dreamless sleep. Blessed are they who have faith in that some day, some blessed day, their eyes shall be opened again to behold the radiance of another and a better world than this."