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WHO’S
|M NEWS
mm WEEK
By LEMUEL F. PARTON
XJEW YORK.—John F. Stevens.
was self-educated as an engi
neer. Therefore, he was an eclectic
and readily made use of a retired
. murderer to ac-
Famed Lngmeer compligh a des-
Used Murderer perately impor-
To Attain End tant end re
gardless of the
lack of engineering precedent. He
is now 86, one of the greatest of
American engineers, the first engi
neer in charge of planning and
building the Panama canal, recently
awarded the Hoover medal by the
American Society of Civil Engineers
at its eighty-sixth annual meeting in
New York.
The murderer who came in
handy was a Montana Blackfoot In
dian. Jim Hill’s new railroad, west
bound from St. Paul, was rather
impulsively started. It ran slap
bang into the impenetrable wall of
the Rocky mountains. There was
an Indian legend that there was a
pass over the divide, along the
course of the Marias river. Mr.
Stevens, a young engineer for the
railroad, talked to the Blackfeet
about it. There was such a pass.
They knew all about it. But not all
of Jim Hill’s wampum could bribe
them even to point in that direc
tion. This Marias pass was the
dwelling place of evil spirits, of
sorcerers, of dreadful demons, and
all who went that way lost either
Wu»ir lives or their reason.
Mr. Stevens mushed over the
mountains with the thermome
ter at 50 degrees below zero and
found no pass. But, by chance,
he found a wanderer in the wil
derness, a Blackfoot driven out
by his tribe because he had
killed a man. The Indian had
been having a difficult time. A
few devils and monsters, more
or less, meant little to him.
They made a deal. The story of
their days-on-end scramble to
the roof of the continent through
five feet of snow and bitter cold,
with Mr. Stevens sleepless as he
kept an eye on his homicidal
guide, is one of the classics of
the conquest of the wilderness.
They found the pass, and their
return was another desperate
adventure. But soon the scream
of locomotives was crying down
the demons, who, presumably,
moved on.
When the Panama canal was pro
jected, John F. Stevens fought
through, against weighty opposition,
the lock principle against the sea
level plan. The engineer in charge,
from. 1905 until he was succeeded
by General Goethals, he flattened
all the demons of disease and dis
order which had licked De Lesseps.
General Goethals rated his work as
among the greatest of engineering
achievements. He was minister
plenipotentiary to the Soviets in
1917, remaining six years and re
organizing and rebuilding their rail*
roads.
F\R. VANNEVAR BUSH, testify
, ing on the patent system before
the national economy committee at
Washington, is the inventor of
.a “mechanical
Scientist s Brain bra i n,’’ o r
Machine Downs “thinking ma-
Human Thinker chine.” It is as
big as a sawmill
that solves problems “too difficult
for the human brain.” It works nice
ly, and Franklin institute awarded
him a medal for it.
One can think offhand of a lot of
vexing problems that might be
tossed into its hopper these days.
Set up in congress, dealing the an
swers on war and peace, national
defense, relief and a balanced budg.
et, it ought (o save a lot of money.
Dr. Bush, former vice presi
dent of Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, became presi
dent of the Carnegie institution
on January 1 of this year. He is
one of the most distinguished
mathematical physicists in
America. A tall, genial, bespec
tacled scientist, with a slightly
stooped and somewhat stringy
figure, with untamed hair, he
leads reporters quite out of their
depth. Ills metallic cerebration
was just one of many of his in
teresting devices and discover
ies, including, particularly, re
search in the transmission of
electric power, to which he has
made notable contributions.
The son of a distinguished Boston
clergyman, he romped through
Tufts, Harvard and M, I. T., picking
up three degrees in three and one
half years, thereafter teaching at
M. I. T.
On February 19, 1936, addressing
the New York Patent Lawyers’ as
sociation, he was severely critical
of the American patent system, for
its “appalling fixity and lack of
adaptability.” At the current com
mittee hearing, he commends it, but
both meager news reports are out
of their context, and Dr. Bush doubt
less could defend himself against
charge of inconsistency.
® Consolidated News Features.
WNU Service.
Playmate Gone, Six-Year-Old Writes to God
Bobby Lewis of Minneapolis, six years old, attended the funeral of his four-year-old playmate, Floyd High
strom, and talked with Reverend Emil Heuhardt, who told him that Floydie had gone on a long trip to see
God. Returning home, Bobbie addressed a letter “To God. In Heaven, Up in the Sky,” asking that he be
allowed to see Floydie when he went “upstairs.”
Negroes Loyal to Mardi Gras Monarch
The Zulu King—colored Monarch of Mardi Gras—arrives by barge
at the New Basin canal ami boards his throne float for the colorful trip
through the main street of New Orleans Negro section. During the last
day of Mardi Gras festivities, February 21, Negroes meet the tug boat,
rechristened a Royal Yacht, and demonstrate their loyalty to their
“monarch.”
Colleges Prepare to Train Civilian Aviators
The plan of the United States to train 20,000 civilians annually as reserve pilots will receive a practical
five-months test at 13 leading universities this year. One of the first to try out the plan is Pamona Junior
college of Los Angeles, Calif., where 15 young men between the ages of 18 and 25 started the course in Feb
ruary. In June they will have qualified for private piloting certificates. Students rebuild smashed aircraft
“from the ground up.” At the right students Jack Spansaii (left) and Dean Newman are busy working on an
engine in the instruction hangar.
Burns Volume Guarded in Transport
'.‘JL- '"i- Waamß&W 1 .JS^SHbt.
SSSiaßsS\ JEWMI
Poet Robert Burns received $BO for this edition of his work. When
the securely wrapped single volume was transferred from the Morgan
library in New York to Kearny, N. J., it was transported in an armored
truck and insured for $30,000. Reverend Richard D. Jones (third from
left) borrowed the book from J. P. Morgan for the celebration of the
Scottish bard’s 180th birthday. It is a first edition volume, published
in 1786 in Kilmarnock, Scotland.
PRE-CANNED FISH
All ready for canning is this
“drum fish” seined by four Seattle
men in the northern part of Puget
Sound. The finny adventurer had
apparently gotten into the milk bot
tle when small, and being of a re
tiring, thoughtful nature, remained
j too long, growing too big to get out.
FROM THE RANKS
Starting as a messenger boy at
the age of 13, John G. McCarthy,
50, who served seven consecutive
years as a director of the Chicago
Board of Trade, was recently elect
ed president of the organization. It
j is an honorary post in that he serves
1 without pay.
Star Dust
Tivo ‘Happy Endings ’
Another British Girl
It Tex Ritter Shuns Horse
By Virginia Vale
THEY’VE been having
“happy ending” trouble
with “Idiot’s Delight.” In the
play, the hero and heroine
prepared to die together. But
that didn’t seem to work out
too well when the picture was
previewed, so another ending
was prepared, to be used if
other pre-release audiences liked it
better than the original one.
Now that Vivien Leigh is sched
uled to shoot into stardom (if “Gone
With the Wind” turns out well for
her), some of the pictures in which
she appeared in England will be re
leased again over here.
Meanwhile we have the word of
Ernie Westmore, the demon make
up man, that another girl from the
British isles will “burn up Holly
wood.” Her name is Maureen
O’Hara, for screen purposes; in real
r" t 1
I Jm / •
VIVIEN LEIGH
life it’s Maureen Fitzsimmons. She
hails from Dublin, is 18 years old,
and is the discovery of Erich Pom
mer, discoverer of Marlene Diet
rich. She is working in London in
the new Charles Laughton picture,
“Jamaica Inn” as Laughton’s lead
ing lady.
Tex Ritter, Monogram’s singing
cowboy, is on a two months’ person
al appearance tour, with four mem
bers of the musical unit used in his
pictures. They are traveling by car,
with Tex in his trailer, and expect
to stop in 52 towns before they re
turn to the studio and another se
ries of westerns.
There’s to be a new hair cut for
the ladies, named for Ina Claire; it
will be launched with tons of pub
licity. Of course, Miss Claire has
the kind of hair that will take and
hold any kind of hair-do, and can
have it whipped into shape by an
expert three or four times a week,
or even every day, which makes
things tough for her imitators.
George Raft’s departure from
Paramount was not exactly unex
pected. It came as a result of his
refusal to play the lead in “Magnifi
cent Fraud.” Lloyd Nolan has
formed the habit of stepping into the
parts that Raft doesn’t want, so
he did it this time. Last August,
when Raft refused a role in “St.
Louis Blues,” the same thing hap
pened.
To this desk came a touching sto
ry about a cocker spaniel named
“Rudy,” given to Tommy Riggs
by Rudy Vallee a year ago. Ac
cording to this little tale from the
press representative, the dog al
ways listened to the Riggs Satur
day night air shows. It began to
pine in a corner when a dog char
acter was introduced on the pro
gram, not knowing that the dog
was played by Brad Barker, an ani
mal imitator.
And, ran the story, a doctor friend
of Riggs’ claimed that, when
“Rudy” died the next day, it was
because of “the nearest thing to a
broken heart that he had ever seen
in an animal.”
That doctor should have consulted
the elevator boy in Riggs’ apart
ment hotel, who confided to me the
tact that the dog died of distemper.
But distemper doesn’t make a
touching little story for press
agents.
*
Got any hobbies? Dave Elman,
conductor of “Hobby Lobby,” de
clares that, according to statistics,
the life of modern man is prolonged
for several years through intelli
gent use of leisure time in cultivat
ing them. If Elman himself doesn’t
look out he’ll need something more
than a hobby to prolong his. Since
none of his “Hobby Lobby” guests
arrive in New York before Monday
morning, he works from nine o’clock
Monday morning until at least mid
night Monday night interviewing
them and preparing the material
for his broadcasts.
ODDS AND ENDS—Gabriel Header
wishes that he could get another guest
lor “We, the People” who’d attract a*
many listeners as Tom Mooney did . . .
Right along with the announcement of
the “Gone W ith the W ind” stars comes
the information that Walter Connolly,
who was signed long ago, won't be in
the cast; his options expired, and he'd
got rather tired of the whole thing . . .
Jimmie Cagney’s sister has been mak
ing excellent screen tests.
® Western Newspaper Union
•WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Jlsk Me Jlnolher
0 A General Quiz
The Questions
1. How much does it cost to fire
the largest gun in the U. S. army?
2. Who were the oldest and
youngest members of the Consti
tutional convention?
3. Is Mahatma Gandhi married?
4. What is the lowest hereditary
title of British nobility?
5. What was Howard Hughes’
time for his round-the-world flight
in July?
6. What is the difference be
tween an attack plane and a pur
suit plane?
7. How does the proportion of
city students attending college
compare with that of the country
students?
The Answers
1. The 16-inch gun is the largest
and the cost to fire one round is
approximately $3,000.
2. Benjamin Franklin of Penn
sylvania, then 81, and Jonathan
Dayton of New Jersey, who was
26 years old.
3. He is married and has four
sons and several grandchildren.
Married at the age of 13, in 1909
he took a perpetual vow of celi
bacy.
4. Baronet.
5. Three days, 19 hours.
6. Attack planes are designed
and armed for attacking the en
emy’s ground forces; pursuit
planes are designed and armed
especially for fighting enemy air
craft.
7. Out of every 1,000 rural fami
lies, 53 young men and women
are sent to college, while 49 col
lege students are sent from every
1,000 urban homes.
Uncle PklL^K
Make Sure of This:
There is no abundant life that
Is to come out of “somebody
else’s” efforts.
Children with grandpas and
grandmas leam that there are
two views of what their par
ents regard as misbehavior.
If one is blue, one should get
busy. Never let the blues induce
you to sit down idly.
Democracy Scores
Anybody in America who would
swell his chest and strut around
as dictators do in Europe would
be laughed into oblivion.
Some of the unwritten laws
are too fantastic to be framed
into a statute.
Why is all the pottery found by
archeologists broken? The men
must have wiped the dishes.
SWORLDSIA,
LARGEST Rl If
SELLER AT IV
Vital Partisans
Moderators of opinion are often
useful but the glory or the shame
belong to partisans.—Harper.
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