WHO’S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
By LEMUEL F. PARTON
(Consolidated Features—WNU Service.*
NEW YORK —For four or five
years now. Dr. J. Enrique
Zanetti, professor o* chemistry in
Columbia university, has been pooh
t m poohing high
Liata Fire Bomb e x plosive
Aa Head Devil of bombs and
Dettrudivt Might “J
ger on the incendiary bomb as the
head devil of the hosts of destruc
tion. Just out is his book, "The
ABC of Incendiaries,” in which he
insists that current European bomb
ing forays are pretty clumsy busi
ness, since the high explosives con
stitute a defense against the spread
of fire started by the incendiaries.
Remembering how they blew up
buildings to check the spread of
the big San Francisco fire, one finds
the professor's idea plausible.
Dr. Zanettf was a lieutenant colo
nel of the chemical warfare service
In World war No. 1, and from 1922
to 1926 was a consulting expert of
the League of Nations in studies of
chemical warfare. Supplementing
this experience with academic and
industrial studies of many years, he
has become a world authority on
bombs and what to do about them
if anything.
His main idea Is that gas dis
sipates and fire proliferates—
therefore look out for incendiary
bombs. In January, 1936, he
wrote in a university publication
that fire bombs would be the
worst peril of the next big war.
Two-pound fire bombs could be
sprayed over a city and one ef
fective hit out of 200 dropped
might start 200 fires In widely
separated places. He cries
down alarmists about gas. He
thinks it would be just as well
to do away with slums, as a de
fense measure because of Uielr
vulnerability to fire.
Dr. Zanetti was bom in Santo Do
mingo in 1885, came to the U.S.A.
in 1900, was naturalized in 1906 and
In 1907 took his doctorate from Har
vard university. He joined the Co
lumbia university faculty in 1913,
and has held a full professorship
since 1929.
A PLEASANT change of subject,
** from fire bombs, is Tom Smith,
a ball of fire in his way, but one
everybody likes. Seabiscuit day
, was recently
Seabtacuit Owes celebrated at
All to Thit Horae the Santa Ani
Psycho - Analyst £
honor the greatest money-winning
horse of all time. His trainer, the
silver-haired Tom Smith, probably
was inconspicuous, as usual, but
without him there would have been
no Seabiscuit saga of speed, dollars
and romance.
"Silent Tom," as they call him
around the tracks, was a rodeo rid
er, cowhand, prospector and black
smith in Colorado, Wyoming, and
Montana. About four years ago,
Charles S. Howard, later owner of
Seabiscuit, hired him to train the
Howard stable, then unknown to
fame. The new trainer discovered
Seabiscuit on an out-of-the-way New
England track and persuaded Mr.
Howard to buy him for $8,000. The
horse has earned $437,730.
Mr. Smith Is probably the only
horse psycho-analyst In the
world. He was about three
years old when he started being
a horse-wrangler and learned
things about horses that nobody
else ever suspected. Naturally,
he became an amateur veteri
narian, but psychology helped a
lot In bringing through Seabis
cuit. The nag was fussy and
given to brooding. Long before,
Tom had learned that pleasant
companionship is necessary for
horse well-being. After a few
experiments, he picked for Sea
biscuit’s stablemate an amiable
old swaybacked roan named
Pete. They nickered and mux
sled each other happily and Sea
biscuit began to pick off purses.
Of course what happened was
that Seabiscult’s ego was bucked
up by having somebody around
he knew he could beat.
“Silent Tom” is 50 years old.
Among other winners he has trained
for the Howard stable are Mioland
and the wild-eyed Kayak II, brought
from the Argentine by Mr. Smith’s
son, Lin. He has about 200 horses
to handle and study.
HERE’S a clever Russian, scien
tifically educated, who took a
different tack than most before the
revolutionary gale. He is Dr. Vladi
mir K. Zworykin, who came here
in 1910 to make distinguished con
tributions to American science—
notably the development of the elec
tron microscope. With his col
leagues of the Radio Corporation of
America, he now unveils the super
eye, from 20 to 50 times more power
ful than the ordinary microscope.
It is said to reveal far horizons of
microscopic research.
City of London
Financial ‘Hub’
Of British Isles
Great Commercial Center
Selected as Target
Bv Bombers.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
WASHINGTON.—The com
pact "downtown” financial
district of London known as
the City, which is the special
target for German raiders’
incendiary bombs and the
scene of England’s greatest
fire in three centuries, has
i been acclaimed one of the
most important commercial
areas of its size in the world.
The irregular semicircle of
ancient streets beside the
Thames known as the City is
only one square mile in area,
but for centuries it has set
the financial pace of the
world, according to the Na
tional Geographic society.
The Bank of England, known as
the exclusive "Old Lady of Thread
needle Street," sits in the midst of
it—a private institution which since
1694 has had the exclusive right to
issue England's paper money and
to hold the reserve funds of all other
banks in the country. A coin's throw
to the east on Throgmorton street,
stands the Stock exchange, which
deals in the government bonds of its
own and foreign countries, and in
the stocks of most important corpo
rations of the world.
London’s 'Wall Street.’
Throgmorton street becomes the
"curb market’’ for trading in Amer
ican securities during the daily in
terval between the closing of the
London exchange and the closing
five hours later of New York’s stock
market. Lombard street, noted for
its banks, adjoins Threadneedle and
Throgmorton streets to form the
"Wall street” district of London.
Lloyd’s of London, a short walk
east of Leadenhall street, in 250
years has grown to be the world’s
largest insurance institution. It is
an association of underwriters. With
in the area also are the famous old
financial house of Rothschild, and
the even older Child's bank, which
Dickens described in his "Tale of
Two Cities” as Tellson’s bank.
Within vast metropolitan London,
whose 8,000,000 people have spread
their buildings over 692 square
miles, the “City" is a tight little
center packed inside ancient bounda
ries like an English walnut in its
■hell. It reaches from the Inns of
Court and Fleet street in the west to
the Tower of London in the east,
from London bridge north to Clerk
enwell road. This is the oldest part
of London. Through 20 centuries it
has preserved its identity and prac
tically its original limits, thanks to
the thick wall 35 feet high built
around it by Roman conquerors.
Remnants of this frequently re
built wall and its nine gates are re
sponsible for the names of such
streets as London Wall, Newgate,
Aldgate, and Cripnlegate, as well as
Billingsgate Market. The wall en
abled City dwellers to hold off Wil
liam the Conqueror, who prudently
built his Tower of London just out
side the City. Since then, no sov
ereign has lived within the City.
The king today first receives per
mission from the lord mayor of Lon
don before passing the spots, such
as the Temple Bar, where modern
streets cross the City’s antique
I boundaries.
‘City’ Deserted at Night.
Historic and literary landmarks,
some dating from Roman times, fill
the City, barely a yard apart By
Maybe We Need Him Again
night the district is usually desert
ed, since almost the only permanent
residents are the custodians or
watchmen of buildings which are
treasured by the Empire for their
past or present significance. By
day, however, a million people daily
crowd in and out of this small area
on business.
The volume of news dispatched
from the newspaper offices of Fleet
street in normal times makes this
a world center for journalism as
well as finance.
This same square mile of Lon
don’s inner core was the birthplace
of John Milton, Sir Thomas More,
Charles Lamb, and William Penn.
It was the residence of Chaucer, and
was visited by countless notables
who were involved in the literary ac
tivities of Grub street or Paternoster
row. There at 17 Gough square. Dr.
Johnson wrote his epochal diction
ary of the English language.
A few blocks south, within the
high paneled walls of Middle Temple
hall, on February 2, 1602, a troupe
of actors presented a comedy by one
of their company, a newcomer
named Shakespeare; it was
"Twelfth Night," destined for
Broadway in 1941.
Famous Men Lived in Area.
A physician at old St. Bartholo
mew’s hospital, which had been
founded by a king’s jester, discov
ered the circulation of the blood—
William Harvey. Meanwhile, in the
Fifteenth-century Guildhall, succes
sive lord mayors were elected and
banqueted under the traditional but
mysterious figures of Gog and Ma
gog. Another landmark of the re
gion was the Cheshire Cheese, tne
inn made famous by Dr. Johnson
and Boswell. The Old Bailey, site
of London’s modem criminal courts,
has associations with the old debt
ors’ prison and the execution place
where malefactors were hanged or
burned at the stake; the last burn
ing took place in 1789.
John Bunyan, William Blake, and
Daniel Defoe wandered through the
City to a common burial place on its
northern fringes. Other tombs in
the district include those of John
Wesley, the Methodist founding fa
ther, and George Fox, first Quaker.
Both traffic and tradition center
of the City is St. Paul’s cathedral,
"the empire’s parish church."
Names of the knotted streets of
the City are almost unbelievably
quaint; Stew lane, Friday street.
Budge row, Knightrider street, Red
i Lion court, and Fetter lane.
Farm Prosperity Continues Rise
i a*>aii«» Map of Business
A survey of business conditions for February reveals that
prosperity is steadily rising. Increased industrial employment is
stimulating demand for farm products. The resultant larger farm
purchasing poicer is raising demand for manufactured products.
Meanwhile many prices are gradually moving higher.
By L, G. ELLIOTT
(President, LaSalle Extension
University)
Prosperity of the farmers it slow
ly improving. Farm income hus
again risen higher, and is now the
best in 10 years. The outlook is
for continued improvement as long
as defense expenditures remain
large.
Greater demand has pushed the
prices of many products higher. The
general a/erage of the prices re
ceived by farmers is about 5 per
cent above that of last year at this
time. The trend continues to be
slowly upward with only temporary
intesruptions.
Effects of expansion in industry
and larger consumer incomes are
rapidly spreading out into every
community.
Consumer purchasing power has
been most strikingly reflected in re
cent weeks by the heavy buying in
retail stores, both in cities and in
rural districts. Sales have declined
from the high holiday peak but they
are still from 10 to 15 per cent high
er than a year ago.
Workers’ Income
Rises as Expenses
Stay at 1936 Level
Increased Buying Power
Reflected in High
Store Sales.
MINNEAPOLIS.—Spreading pay
rolls from roaring defense indus
tries have hoisted the American
family’s buying power to new re
covery heights, a current family
buying-power survey reveals. The
average urban worker's household
saw its monthly income soar nearly
$7 in the last six months of 1940,
while household expenses remained
at 1936 levels, according to a cur
rent family buying-power study.
The favorable margin between av
erage earnings and living costs is
the largest in the eight-year history
of the company’s index, according
to the survey conducted by the
Northwestern National Life Insur
ance company. Record department
store trade volume, and improved
installment collection ratios reflect
this greater net buying power in the
hands of the American consumer.
Living costs sank to a low for the
year in October, and have stiffened
a trifle since, but have been far
outstripped by the rise in industrial
pay checks, the report states.
Measuring the effects of payroll
and living cost changes on the
American pocketbook, the study
shows that an average employed
worker’s family of four, with earn
ings of $120 at average 1933 pay
roll levels and spending the same
amount for its living expenses at av
erage 1933 retail prices, had to pay
$131.11 in June, 1936, to maintain
the same standard of living; mean
while the family pay check had
climbed to $133.92.
In June, 1940, the same standard
of living for a family of four cost
$131.86, while the family’s pay check
had climbed to $150.86; by the year
end, the monthly pay check had
rocketed almost another $7, to
$157.49, while living costs had actu
ally fallen $1.10 from June levels,
totalling $130.76 in December, 1940,
or practically the same as in mid
1936, the report shows.
Thus the great increase in pay
rolls in recent months has meant a
net increase in American spending
power, the report points out, as to
tal living costs are the same as they
were a year ago, and actually less
than they were last summer. Minoi
increases in clothing and fuel, have
been offset by the decline in food
prices, the study shows.
Army Mechanic Rescues
Navv Aviator in Desert
RANDOLPH FIELD, TEXAS.—If
it had happened in the movies, audi
ences would have shrieked in dis
belief.
Technical Sergeant O. A. Miller,
veteran air corps mechanic, of Ran
dolph field, Texas, was driving
across the Arizona desert not far
from Gila Bend. Suddenly a navy
training plane sputtered overhead
and then glided to earth on the des
ert wastes, just off the highway.
“Forced landing . . . Motor quit,"
explained the navy pilot to Sergeant
Miller. With the aid of his auto tool
kit, the army man proceeded to
"trouble shoot” the ailing engine.
In a couple of hours it was purring
smoothly again.
A passing motorist was pressed
into service to halt any stray traffic
that migfit happen along on the
road, the plane was taxied onto the
highway and after a final check. Ser
geant Miller turned it over to the
navy man, who used the roadbed for
a runway to get into the air.
A very nice letter of apprecia
tion was received by Sergeant Mil
ler a few days later from the navy
pilot who had been assisted from
what might have been a rather haz
ardous situation. The signature at
the close of the note of thanks . . .
Robert E. Lee, Ensign, USNR.
if Cimo Scott 'kJaUoft
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
Shared Washington's
Birthday
THE fame of two American art
ists rests largely upon their as
sociation with George Washington
and their portraits of him. They
were Charles Willson Peale and his
son, Rembrandt Peale, and coinci
dence also plays a part in their rela
tionship with the Father of His
Country. For Rembrandt Peale was
born on Washington's birthday—
February 22, 1778—and his fattier
died on Washington’s birthday—Feb
ruary 22, 1827.
Being the son of an artist, it
was only natural perhaps that
Rembrandt Peale
should become a
painter. So it is
not surprising to |
learn that he be
gan to draw at
the age of eight
and by the time
he was 13 he had j
painted a portrait
of himself.
Charles Willson j
Peale had made
the first known portrait of Washing
ton (painted in 1772 and depicting
him as an officer in the Virginia mi
litia) and had served as a captain
of volunteers under him at the Battle
of Trenton. When Washington be
came President, he was constantly
importuned to sit for his portrait.
Some of these requests he denied,
but he could not refuse his old
friend, when in 1795 Charles Willson
Peale asked him to pose for his tal
ented young son, Rembrandt. In
fact, he granted the boy three sit
tings in his father's studio in Phila
delphia and the portrait reproduced
below was the result.
This portrait of Washington was
the only one which Rembrandt Peale
made from life, but another of his
pictures of the First American, not
drawn from life, is even more fa
mous. Known as the “Equestrian
Portrait" it is entitled “Washington
Before Yorktown” and it was not
made until 1823. But when Chief
Justice John Marshall, who had
served under Washington in the
Revolution, saw it. he exclaimed "It
is more like Washington himself
than any portrait I have ever seen."
In 1796 Charles Willson Peale de
cided to give up portrait painting
and recommended his talented son.
Portrait of Washington, made bj
Rembrandt Peale when he was only
17 years old.
Rembrandt, to the public as his sue- .
cessor. But the son was not imme
diately successful and went to
Charleston, S. C., where he had his
studio for several years. In 1801
he went to England to continue his
studies under his father’s instruc
tor, the famous Benjamin West, but
after a short time there his health
failed and he returned to his home
in Philadelphia.. He intended to
abandon art for agriculture but,
after painting a few portraits, he
was surprised to find himself hailed
as a worthy successor to his famous
father.
In 1804 he advertised himself as
“Rembrandt, portrait painter in
large and small, head of Mulberry
court, leading from Sixth, three
doors above Market street” and ex
plained that he desired to be known
by his first name alone, "the ad
junct Peale serving only to show of
whom descended.” Three years later
he visited Paris to paint the most
distinguished men of the day and
was successful in this enterprise.
After a second trip to Paris in 1809.
he came back to America the follow
ing year and from that time, until
his death in 1860, his fame as a por
traitist, a painter of historic scenes
and a lithographer (one of the first
to practice the art in America) was
undiminished.
• • •
Although Washington sat for his
portrait by the 17-year-old Rem
brandt Peale in 1795, it was not un
til 1823 that the artist finally finished
it. He spent those 28 years in work
ing on it to make it suit his ideal of
a true likeness of the great man. He
took it with him when he went
abroad and exhibited it in Italy and
England where it attracted a great
deal of attention. After his return to
America, the portrait was bought by
the United States senate and it now
hangs in the vice president’s room
in the senate wing of the CapitoL
HCWJq SEW
Ruth Wyeth Spears
CHEST MAKES SPACE f
SEEM NARROW—►
WALL PAPER BORDER
AND FULL SKIRTED
DRES5ING TABLE
SOFTEN ANGLES AND,
ACCENT WIDTH—*
hhfbip_ i •'* ^
\Af HAT could be a greater lux
’ * ury than two extra closets in
your bedroom 1 That is exactly
what a young friend of mine
thought. But, when they were
built in, she was painfully con
scious of their angles and the room
seemed much narrower. This
sketch shows you how the feeling
of width was restored and the
angles were made to melt away.
A wallpaper border all the way
around the room helped to soften
down the angles of the closets, also
added an exciting color note to
the plain painted walls. The chest
of drawers in the upper sketch
was moved to another part of the
room, and the long spacious dress
ing table was built into the space
between the closets. The top of
the table and stool and the frame
of the mirror were enameled por
celain blue which was one of the
colors in the wallpaper border.
Dotted swiss skirts were fastened
on the inside of the finishing
boards across the front of the ta
ble and around the stool with snap
fastener tape—one side tacked to
the wood and the other sewn to
the skirt tops.
• • •
NOTE: Directions for making three
types of dressing tables are illustrated in
booklet No. 1 of the series which Mrs.
Spears has prepared for our readers.
Details for making the frilled lamp
shades illustrated today are in No. 5.
which also contains a description of the
Mary Was Looking for
Another Way Out!
The housewife was showing her
new maid through the upstairs
rooms. Finally, they came to a
staircase leading down.
“Now, Mary,” said the house
wife, stepping on to the landing,
“when you wish to pass down to
the garden, go down this way.”
At that moment she slipped, and
with a great bumping noise she
was precipitated to the bottom.
“Good gracious, mum!” gasped
the maid, “Are ye hurt?”
“No; it’s nothing,” replied the
dishevelled mistress as she arose.
“Then ye’ve got down it fine,
mum!” declared the girl. “But if
that’s the way I’ve got to go down,
the job’s too strenuous for me!”
THE CHEERFUL CHERUB
-■———— m
Tbe germ of ell were ;
going to be
Ii in vs now tney sty
end so
Teke one good look et
me end Jte -
A president 'N
in embryo. 4o f)
KrT"
•cries Each booklet illustrates 32 home
making projects and may be ordered di
rect from Mrs. Spears by sending her
your name and address with 10c in cobs
.for each number requested. Send order to:
MRS. ROTS WYETH SPEARS
Drawer 10
Bedford Hi lie New York
Enclose 20 cents for Books 1 and 8.
Name.....
Address ....
HAIR TREATMENT
Hair Conditioning Shampoo
Cleans scalp and hair properly. Removes
dandruff scales. Conditions for permanent
nave or bleach. Sent postpaid for 50c or
COD Luke Co.. 2636 S. Michigan. Chicago.
Man Is Affected
Histories make men wise; poets,
witty; the mathematics, subtile;
natural philosophy, deep; morals,
grave; logic and rhetoric, able to
contend.—Bacon.
Pull the Trigger on
Lazy Bowels, and
Comfort Stomach, too
When constipation brings on acid in
digestion, stomach upset, bloating, dizzy
spells, gas, coated tongue, sour taste and
bad breath, your stomach is probably
“crying the blues” because your bowels
don’t move. It call3 for Laxative-Senna
to pull the trigger on those lazy bowels,
combined with Syrup Pepsin to save
your touchy stomach from further dis
tress. For years, many Doctors have used
pepsin compounds as vehicles, or car
riers to make other medicines agreeable
to your stomach. So be sure your laxa
tive fontains Syrup Pepsin. Insist on
Dr. Caldwell’s Laxative Senna combined
with Syrup Pepsin. See how wonderfully
the Laxative Senna wakes up lazy nerves
and muscles in your intestines to bring
welcome relief from constipation. And
the good old Syrup Pepsin makes this
laxative so comfortable and easy on
your stomach. Even finicky children
love the taste of this pleasant family
laxative. Buy Dr. Caldwell’s Laxative
Senna at your druggist today. Try one
laxative that comforts your stomach, too.
In the Shadows
Night brings out stars and sor
row shows us truths.—Bailey.
%COLDS
q.uick?y
LIQUID
TABLETS »
SALVE
NOSE DROPS
COUGH DROPS
*
Everlasting Beauty
A thing of beauty will never
pass into nothingness.—Keats.
A CYCLE OF HUMAN BETTERMENT
advertising gives you new ideas,
/ \ and also makes them available
to you at economical cost. As these
new ideas become more accepted,
prices go down. As prices go down,
more persons enjoy new ideas. It
is a cycle of human betterment, and
it starts with the printed words
of a newspaper advertisement.
JOIN THE CIRCLE Qj READ THE ADS