Evening Star Newspaper, August 3, 1930, Page 91

INGTON, D. C, AUGUST 3, 1930. B Story of High Finance Among Lodge Offices— By Arthur K. Akers q o ) »* Gladstone nodded miserably. He had been the light tone that ted and the white Which momentous de- cision made, Gladstone rearranged the gen- his feet and made progress street, where his white proven that it pays to advertise. jams developed behind the resplendent 's alley, and merely thickened emerged and headed foward the Afro- ONCI at the hotel, sales started with a bang; everything as business-like as the Bank of England. Posted prominently beside Mr. Toombs with & book and a stub of a pencil, Latham ‘made painful entry of each ticket buyer's name and number. “De book make ’em feel better 'bout leavin’ day money,” Mr, Toombs justified the grueling labor on the part of Latham, the scribe. And Mr. Toombs, t0o, sought to learn each ticket taker's name. “Craves to know de win- ner,” he confided to each as he took their coins. And his very manner indicated and < imparted confidential advance information that each buyer addressed alone was to be the win- ner. Darky after darky parted with hard- hoarded money and eclutched the resulting “~ ticket, while before his eyes and ears swam ~ visions not of Mobile but of himself in the “big red car, with cut-out wide open, splitting the Hill wide open, too! W “Fo’ hund'ed an’ sevumty-two tickets lef’,” ~Mr. Toombs proclaimed happily when he and Latham had locked themselves in to check up that night. “Dat's three hund'ed fifty dollars 10’ me, 10’ de car. An’ one hund'ed fifty-sevum fo’ you an’ de lodge, if de lodge git any. Dat after you take out fo' de signs. Ol signs did work noble. An’ de plantation niggers ain’t staht comin’ in yit—jes’ got dese heah town boys, an’ two mo’ whut got run out Uniontown yestiddy.” - “Tomorrer us finishes up—puts out all de rest dese numbers at two bits apiece,” recapitu- lated Latham cheerfully. “An’ Samson Bates still Jookin’ to Gladstone fo’ de rent. Samson tell me he own se’f he cain't talk to nobody but de head man when de rent git behime. Dat’s Gladstone. Gladstone pay de bills. Samson done tol’ him dat, too.” “Dat’s de idea!” approved Mr. Toombs. “Never seed a boy l'arn faster'n you. You ain’t never gwine git rich payin’ 'nother nig- ger's debts. If Samson staht out to collect from Gladstone, let him do hit. An’, like I says, ‘Fewer de splitters, de bigger de split’.” “Ain’t hit so!” agreed Latham. “Gladstone ought paid dat rent befo’ now. Sho git him in trouble, all time standin’ off de landlawd.” Morning but proved the correctness of Mr. Toombs’ prophecy. The country Negroes “hadn't even started coming in until now. The remaining tickets began to go with a rush. Which induced in Mr. Toombs a touch of mel- ancholia founded on the discovery that there had been a most distressing lack of foresight on his part. He had sadly underestimated the capacity of colored Demopolis and environs to absorb tickets. With Latham's speeding pencil all but developing a hot-box as he wrote the names of purchasers, it became apparent that the worthy pair could have sold far more than they had had printed. “Whar I come from las’, had to run a nigger down an’ put a fawked stick over he neck to git money out of him! mourned Mr. Toombs. “Down heah dey fetch hit to you—an’ us ain’t print ’nough tickets!” “Hit’s de 'scursion money,” panted Latham, chewing his tongue in the throes of penman- * puts yo'se’f in line to de loud hawn. Al yo’ you ridin’ in hit! Step de gas, an’ de sidewalk niggers stahts spit- ‘ar down on de ’celerator, an’ how big you is!— home twel de las’ “Goin’! Goin'! Gone!” chanted Mr. Toombs. “An’ me an’ Mist’ Hooper retires an’ spins de wheel whut picks de winner!” Tnlmvdnhovednoundencyu:hue. In every pasteboard-holder’s breast was im- planted the firm conviction that he or she was the winner. Something in Mr. Toombs’ look and voice when he passed out each ticket had made that certain. Mr. Toombs at least gave service. In mno time he was reappearing, Latham at his heels. In a moment somebody was going to be lucky! Toombs at the top of his voice, “hit give me ‘streme pleasure to ‘nounce dat de big red car wid de lour cut-out is done been won by number twenty-six fawty-two, held by Negro name Noland whut run on de Pullman passin’ thr'u’ Yawk, Al'bama, over heah, eev’ Tuesday night. Us drives de car over an’ give hit to him now.” But just here some detail in Mr. Toombs’ scheme seemed to have slipped a cog. For, instead of being good sports and accepting the dictum of Mr. Toombs and hig mythical wheel, s murmur of active dissatisfaction began to run through the crowd. Indeed, ome over sized member with a wagon-spoke even loudly pointed out that there were only 2,500 tickets —hence any winner number as high as twenty- six forty-two was an obvious fraud. The murmuring immediately grew worse. Mr. Toombs seemed to lose poise and avoirdu- pois simultaneously. Painfully his memory began to recall to him the time that he had led Mr. Toombs, who could perceive a nickled badge through the thickest coat, hurriedly thrust his entire share of the proceeds of the raffle, in cash, into Latham’s surprised hands. 8 similar great public movement—by 50 yards —right after he had sold a lodge in Decatur a building that he did not happen to own at the moment. Latham, looking on, began to feel far worse than Mr. Toombs. He lived in Demopolis and knew the spokesman with the spoke. De- vastatingly it burst over him that he had been following the wrong procession up the wrong street for the past several days. Here he was, a boy being obliged to get right in his home town just when the facilities for getting right were at their poorest. All he could see now . was the Negro hotel back of him and the white folks’ jail house in front of him. The occasion was beginning to call for a lot of things that weren't standard equipment with Latham, such as wings. Time kept getting shorter and the crowd uglier and noiser, too. Half a minute more and he was either going to be 'way up front in a big push or 'way down" under a lot of feet passing over him like a pavement. Meanwhile the neighborhood was being made hideous by Mr. Toombs, who was dreading the large Negro with the spoke so loudly as to be heard for blocks. And it was in this crisis that Latham and Mr. Toombs suddenly clutched each other in fresh bewilderment. Business was taking a brand-new and startling turn. Like a flying wedge, a party of four was breaking through the previous party of two thousand. Straight for the beleagued pair on the hotel steps they forced their way. One of them Latham knew, but could not account for in such a group. It was the discarfled and discredited Gladstone. And one was a strange white gentleman, But sight of the other two explained to Latham why Mr. Toombs, who could perceive a nickeled badge through the thickest coat, hurriedly thrust his entire share of the proceeds of the raffle, in cash, into Latham’s surprised hands just before they confronted him. These were the two white gentlemen who had walked on either side of Latham at the court house the time he had had a little mix-up. Mr. Toombs plainly had no desire now to be caught by them with any of the evidence for the prosecution on him. “That’s the man you want—the big swelled in & jam. He had the money; Mr, Toombs had an alibi. Gladstone had ample motive for pened to Mr. Toombs, somebody was going to remember in a minute that Latham 2 but Was eet! - rafflers. Time was shortening up! And wi its dwindling, the spinning fragments Latham’s brain seized upon the only solution that didn’'t have jails or hospitals in it—to 3 a-boa’d fo' Mo-bilé! of Temp'rance, I sees dat ev'ybody git sa’s-fied! If you ain’t like de raffie, step up ana’ git yo’ money back! Us strive to please. Stand in line while I pays off!” Tm Demopolis saw & rush. Despair changed to desire—to get their money back. Latham finished Mr. Toombs roll and started “Flivver Blimp’' Continued jrom Seventh Page gas bag and store it, along with the gondela and other parts, in a garage. The commercial value of the air yacht nat- urally depends upon its cost—both the initial expenditure and the operating expenses. The cruising expense has been estimated at $3.25 an hour; this amounts to approximately 5 cents & mile with the ship traveling at top speed. The cost of the craft has been set at less than $10,000. Like all other vehicles of trans- portation, “flivver blimps” can be made sub- ject to the law of quantity production. Should they fulfill Capt. Heinen's predictions, it is a certain fact that models will be produced and sold at lower prices. URTHERMORE, the cost of lifting gas is but & fraction of the total cost of the ship. This may seem surprising to those who have read of the great expense incurred in inflating large dirigibles and the additional expense caused by loss of gas, but the facts are easily understood by comparing the size of sn air ydcht with that of the Graf Zeppelin. The mighty* monarch of the sky has a ca- pacity of 3,710,000 cubic feet. Beside this the gas bag of the “flivver blimp” dwindles into insignificance. The hydrogen used in the Graf Zeppelin, would be sufficient to supply 106 air yachts! Loss of gas thus becomes an item of the same relative proportion; with the single bag of the “flivver blimp” it is probable that very little gas will be wasted. A single supply of gas should prove sufficient for an entire cruis- ing season. Hydrogen is an inflammable gas. It intro- duces the element of danger. Despite the safety that has been experienced on board the Graf Zeppelin, it is probable that the owner of an air yacht might have qualms regarding the dangerous supply of explosive vapor in the bag above him. ER in, groaning, upon his own. This was ene of the times when, if a boy broke even, it saved him a lot of broken bones. For every out- standing ticket in an unsatisfied customer’s hands was a lien on trouble. And if there was going to be any trouble, let Gladstone have it. Gladstone had got Latham in all this jam anyway, he reflected bitterly, by not pay- ing the rent. But a day of reckoning was coming for Gladstone: Samson Bates collected or crippled. Latham was making the last refund of his last two dollars when his jaded interest im life was fanned to flame again. For before his very eyes marched something that wasn’t right and couldn’t be believed, even when he was looking right at them. In brief, Gladstone and Samson G. Bates strolling amicably together, speaking the same language and smoking the same kind of cigars, uncrippled and unex-. plained. > Latham couldn’t credit this lion and lami exhibition. But neither could he dismiss it. Something had happened in the miracle line. Yet not even a great curiosity could make it prudent for Latham to remain in the public view until he became more certain that mo more raffie tickets remained outstanding. Hence his retirement beneath the freight depot uniil the situation should further clarify itself. And, by coincidence, it was there, too, that Gladstone wearied with the newness of Mr. Bates’ cigars, sought seclusion while he re- freshed himself with the two-inch remainder of a sidewalk perfecto. “Huccome you an’ Samson Bates git on so good together now?” ventured Laxtbam at m. "Lu; time I see Samson he wuz ® roun * tracks wi ’ ool - yo' id shotguns an Gladstone’s first impulse to high-hat Latham, in memory of recent snubbings, melted under th‘e‘ mellowlncw :;fluenee of this perfecto. ‘Done pa de lodge rent,” responded incompletely. ge » . At this astounding news.a severe what proved fatal to the cat aei;;m upn-“ Latham. What a six-hundred-and-twenty-five- dollar raffle had conspicuously failed to ac- xg}l:&n t:ly“.cl class-less Gladstone was mow & to o : iming have managed in his “Ni , huccome you git o impelling curiousity nnuuy" !o::e?, lrondomhh.? “Ain’'t git no thirty—git fifty,” Gladstone airily. “Me an’ Gawge Mobile boun® on de ’scursion now, on de change. But firs’ us gits us stools up close to de front winder in de eatin’-rest'rant whar at you c'n come mash yo' nose ‘gainst de outside de winder-pane an’ git good look at us nourishin’ ourse’fs.” Latham was far past pride. “Yeah, but fifty ge::s"demmos' m’:ae({ you ever is raise all at one ¥ rsi 4 2 dollars novp??’ TR Ty “'Sociatin’ wid Gawge—" “;Socht-l.n’ wid Gawge?” “Yeah—Gawge gimme dat 1i'1 me ‘bout; say hit cure de lodge olp. bgi:" Mwll an’ keep Samson Bates off my neck. Gawge ;l::lé t:lk:ho'. :e 1l paper he gimme to my . an’ ' et -+ ey sends tel'gram. Now look “To Toombs. Dat tel'gram’s how dat strange white "gent’'man :re-h: I p-y‘:-: ren;v ;):t ;! tvll:eut he fotch me—" “Wid whut he fotch you! Boy, ain't no w gent'man gwine foich you fifty dolln':!"‘3 i “Sho is. He from de auto-mo-bile elub up in Bumin’ham. Fotch me de fifty-dollar re- wawd dat 111 paper offer fo’ tellin’ whar to find dat big Toombs nigger whut steal dat red ear you an’ him been raffiin’ off! Dat Ho'ace Toombs so busy noratin’ round whut he got on Gawge, he plumb fo'git to "low fo’ whut me an’ Gawge git on him!” ; " (Copyright, 1930.) New Air Baby. ~ This is where helium proves to be a factor. American airships use this non-inflammable gas in place of hydrogen. Due to the fact that helium is a comparatively recent discovery and because of the great amount required in such airships as the Los Angeles, it is popularly supposed that hellum is a highly expensive commodity. As a matter of fact, the production of helium has now increased to such a point that the new gas is rapidly becoming as cheap as hydrogen. In March, 1930, its cost had reached a new low level of $12.23 per 1,000 cubic feet. IT 1S safe to estimate that one of the “flivver blimps” can be inflated with non-inflam- mable helium for a sum ranging between $500 and $600, and that the supply of gas should last for a cruising season and then be partly reclaimed for further use. This factor provides for the final element of safety in the navigation of the air yacht and makes its practicability subject only to mechan- ical construction—and Capt. Heinen, & man of practical experience, is confident on that point. Capt. Heinen is & naturalized American citizen. He has leased an airport at Atlantie City for a term of two years, and it is there i)llr.t his first “flivver blimp” is to take te the The progress of air-yacht construction is naturally dependent upon the success of the first ship. It Capt. Heinen's innovations work as he has planned them, there will be air- yacht fields throughout the country and the building of “flivver blimps” will begin in earnest. 2 It is understood that the former Zeppeln commander has made other inventions for use in the air yacht and that the details of these have not yet been announced. His experi- ments with the first air yacht may mw unexpected developments that will hasten realization of his ambitions. (Coypright, 1930.)