Evening Star Newspaper, May 15, 1937, Page 17

Books—Art—Music @h 4 FEATURES RNING EDITION Foening Shap News of Churches WASHINGTON, D. C, REAL SUBSIDIES TO BE GIVEN Chairman Kennedy of Maritime Commission, Dynamo of Public Service, Commissioned to Put America on High Seas and Establish Fleet to Meet All Needs. By Lucy Salamanca. FTER June 30 the United A to “call a subsidy a subsidy” so far as its merchant marine concentrated effort to establish this Nation in its proper place among the seas. For that date marks the death, elimination or re-establishment un- policy of millions of dollars’ worth of mail contracts and the termina- States Government is going s concerned, and clean house in a nations of the world riding the high der a new and definitely prescribed tion of “practices and abuses which should and must be ended,” to quote | President Roosevelt's message to Con- gress on March 4, 1935. A little less than a month ago, with the appointment of Joseph P. Ken- hedy as chairman of the new Mari- time Commission that grew out of the scandalous disclosures of condi- tions under the old Shipping Board, and was charged with the man-size Job of cleaning up a complicated, distressing and highly unprofitable situation with respect to our merchant marine, the first step was taken to wipe the slate clean. Five members mare serving on the newly appointed Maritime Commission—Mr. Kennedy, Thomas C. Woodward, E. C. Moran, Admiral Land and Admiral Wiley. The task that confronts them is, to borrow a Hollywood adjective, co- lossal. It is colossal because these gentlemen have been charged with making of the United States a sea- going nation, with regaining our lost naval prestige and position in the commerce. Specifically, their tasks, minutely observed, are of consider- able magnitude. They must terminate existing mail contracts in the few | weeks that remain before the first day of July. They must liquidate old | contracts and form mew subsidy schedules. In time they must effect & replacement program that will as. sure the adequate maintenance of a fleet once established. They must determine as well what on within, a staff of attorneys from the P. W. A, R. F. C. and 40 lawyers and experts borrowed from the Interior and Post Office Departments are at work on liquidation of the existing mail contracts and preparation of the | new operating subsidy schedules which will go into effect July 1 under the requirements of the merchant marine act of 1936. The fixing of new subsidies presents one of the major problems before this corps of experts. It is also an historical event, marking the first time that Congress has spoken the word right out in meeting and called a subsidy by its right name. This, of course, was at the behest of the President, who stated, “I propose that we end this subterfuge,” and added, “If the Congress decides that it will maintain & reasonably adequate American mer- chant marine, I believe that it can well afford honestly to call a subsidy by its right name.” 'HE subsidies to be granted Amer- ican vessels will be designed to balance the cost of operation and The United States s to be done with that vast fleet of | idle ships that have been laid up for | %o long they have become indeed the “ghost ships” of our dead maritime commerce. There are 188 of this obso- lete fleet of World War vintage, and 28 of the number have already been put up for sale as scrap. Fifty i of them, tied up on the James River, | are now being examined as a pre- liminary to early disposal. Others will be sold on condition that they be scrapped. Any shown to be of com- ! mercial value and seaworthy will be offered for sale or charter. So will | the path be cleared for the modern- | 1zing of a sorely out-of-date channel of trade. | SINCE the days when we went wild | in expenditure of the stagzering sum of $3,000,000,000 in a frantic ef- | fort to build ships to carry American | soldiers to France and thereby made | tardy and erratic attempts to con- | struct bottoms to carry on our mari- | time trade at a time when the for- | eign vessels on whith we had de- pended and come to lean almost en- | tirely had withdrawn from our serv=- | ice, the American Merchant Marine | has been on a long, drawn-out slide | down hill. Shipbuilding has virtually | come to a standstill; the Government | has been paying annually—up until | June 30—about $30,000,000 for carry- | ing mails which would cost under | normal ocean rates no more than $3,000,000; we have lost completely | our old position of power and pride | on the high seas, and find ourselves inadequately equipped to carry on | ocean commerce, confronted, para- doxically enough, as we are, with an unprecedented increase in the import | and export trades. The correction of these conditions and establishment of our merchant marine on a sound, wholesome and permanent basis is the problem the present Maritime Commission has in- herited from the now defunct Ship- ping Board and old Merchant Fleet’ Corp.,, which have been scrapped as | irrevocably as the ghost ships of James River. Jeseph P. Kennedy, chairman of the new commission, is the kind of a| chairman who looks as if he were going to enjoy the job—and the tougher the better. He is big and brawny and red- haired and flushed of countenance. He is 49 years old, and his experience has swept him through such jobs as bank examiner, general manager for the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., manager of a firm of investment bank- ers, officer of various film corporations, chairman of the board of directors and president of Pathe Exchange, Inc.; chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission, to his present chairman- ship in one breath-taking march of energy and action, Besides all this, Mr. Kennedy is raising a family of nine children—five daughters and four sons. IN THIS, the first individual inter- view he has granted since taking office, the new chairman admits that we cannot be proud of our present status among seagoing nations, but has no doubts that once the tangles of poor management, improper use of profits and scattered efforts—as Presi- dent Roosevelt listed the problems con- fronting the commission—are un- raveled, we may look forward to re- gaining a merchant marine that will rank as high or higher than that of any nation that sails the seas. Mr. Kennedy sees his first and im- mediate job that of “perfecting the organization within the commission,” then ‘“perfecting that outside.” He believes a big step forward was taken when the commission was granted the right to certify its employes. That is to say, that the commission is now engaged in judging the abilities of some thousand employes with a view to their permanent retention. Ability, rather than length of service, will determine who shall be kept on. Those lucky ones named for certification will receive the present of civil service status after non-competitive examina- tions. They will—about 900 of them— be blanketed in, to serve the commis- sion o lorg as it functions. ‘While this reorganization is going Kennedy's commission will have to wrestle. plans, which is not to be wondered at, at this early date. That it is an essential factor in any merchant ma- rine's permanency they are all agreed. Each operating service, under such a ‘program, maintains a percentage of modern tonnage that will allow it to compete with similar services of other nations. To maintain its present posi- |tion in carrying world trade, the | United States must replace at least | 1 150,000 gross tons of vessels annually. [Ho“'evex', under an enlarged merchant | marine, many more than this would | have to be replaced. | Our present status, as a matter of ‘ cold fact, is not an enviable one. Nor is it one suited to our power as a Nation nor our prestige as an essen- tially commercial Nation. We are behind every other principal mari- time nation in the percentage of our ‘ merchant fleet, represented by modern | tonnage. We are far behind other ' principal maritime nations in the per- | So far, they have no definite o Modern American liner Leviathan, now obsolete and out of commission. SATURDAY, GHOST SHIPS TO BE BANISHED 7 transportation connects {slandx composing the Territory of Hawaii. is shown at her dock at Nawiliwili, Island of Kauai. MAY 15, 1937. PAGE B—1 By Vesta Cummings. T ISN'T the highwaymen and bur- glars who reach deepest into their countrymen’s pockets each year— it’s the suave folk who talk their fellow men owt of millions of dollars annually. In only 97 out of 3,643 mail fraud cases investigated during the fiscal year 1936 more than $36,000,000 was filched from victims of schemes rang- ing from stock and insurance rackets to “cures” for cancer and promises | of increasing height in adults. So say the postal inspectors of the United States, whose sworn duty to keep the postage stamp honest leads them to adroit criminals, living ele- gantly in splendid homes and hotel suites, and swindling schemes that would challenge the credence of the simple stick-up man. At that, considering the record of convictions secured through the postal inspection service, headed by Kildroy P. Aldrich, chief inspector, only an indiscreet tongue today licks a postage stamp intended for a letter promising the wvarious The S. S. Waialeale —Pan-Pacific Press Photo. The United States liner Manhattan of the American merchant marine. use all the tricks of the deuthfng‘ trade. | Sometimes he deals with gunmen and gangsters, and at other times with educated directors of gigantic business enterprises who hold respect- | ed places in communities until dls»; honesty is exposed by the inspector's work against overwhelming odds. Pic- | tures of some who have been brought to justice by the Postal Inspection Service might be thought by the cas- ual observer to be the members of a bank or hospital directing board. They look prosperous. They look smart. They know their way about in the world. On the other hand, the inspector investigating the hold-up and rob- bery of a mail train or post office truck must deal with the shrewd and oftimes politically entrenched under- world gangster, reckless of human life | and represented by able and unscru- pulous members of the legal pro fession. An inspector investigating the mail- ing of an infernal machine must cope with the vagaries of a mind stimulated building of American ships with the | cost to foreign nations of operating and building their merchant marine under the subsidy plan effective in all important nations of the world that engage in shipping. Many such for- eign governments provide liberal sub- sidies for private shipping interests of their own nations. In addition, it costs less to build foreign ships and it costs less to maintain and operate them than it costs to build and operate American ships. This is due to the American high standard of living that is reflected in costs of con- | struction and of operating a vessel. iTn adjust this differential that exists | between American-built ships and foreign-built ships, the commission is | now called upon to establish outright subsidies for the first time in our national history. In setting up adequate subsidies for American shipping, one of the first considerations of the new commission has been to wipe out the old mail con- tracts, some of which were established on a 10-year-period basis and some of which have, variously, from 3 to 5 years to run. When these are an- nounced, they will be adequate to cover the three differentials between American and foreign shipping costs. Congress has formerly provided sub- sidies disguised under various other | terms, in the interests of American shipping. In recent years, this aid took the form of loans at low rates of | interest to American shipping compa- nies, for the purpose of building new ships for foreign trade. The practice has proved to be a failure, since few ships were built and difficulties arose over repayment of the loans. Under this new deal in shipping the old abuses will be impossible and, in addi- tion, American shipping companies will be called upon to maintain a replacement program that will assure the continuation of our maritime position. HIS ship-replacement program is another necessity with which Mr. centage of our cargo fleet, which has been built during the last 12 years. Great Britain’s merchant fleet is the United States stands second in tonnage, fifth in speed and eighth in age. The age of our merchant marine is, naval weaknesses. Since practically | all of our vessels were rushed through construction during the World War, | by the end of 1941 nearly 90 per cent of our foreign trade fleet will be more than 20 years old. Congress has set the age of obsolescence of a vessel at 20 years, so if we are to carry out the replacement program necessary for the establishment and maintenance of & permanently powerful merchant marine, it is apparent we must imme- diately embark upon a definite plan for replacement of this vast amount of tonnage. Except in the case of tanker replacements, of which about 25 are now under construction in American yards, nothing has as yet been done to accomplish this end. NNAGE under construction in- creased gradually in the United States during 1929, 1930 and 1931, be- cause of the merchant marine act |of 1928. But since 1931 merchant ship construction has declined in this country to the vanishing point. We | now stand ninth among principal maritime nations in the tonnage un- der construction. The position of other world powers with respect to our own position on the high seas, as measured by num- | ber of vessels engaged in maritime commerce, may be interesting. Great | Britain is, in fact as well as poetry, | the “ruler of the waves” when it comes to her fleet. She heads the list with 2,695 vessels. United States comes next with 1,559 vessels. Then, in turn, Japan, with 624 vessels; Nor- way, 594; Germany, 498; France, 516; Italy, 444; Netherlands, 400, and other nations, 1,639. This gives a total of vessels in the world's ocean No. 1 in tonnage, speed and age, while | as a matter of fact, one of our greatest | trade of 8,919, amounting to more than 59,000,000 gross tonnage. Since 1900 Great Britain has launched haif | of the tonnage launched throughout the world. Prior to the establishment of the present Maritime Committee the | President caused to be appointed an interdepartmental committee known as the “Committee on Shipping Pol- icy,” which recommended many new | | provisions designed to rehabilitate the | merchant marine and correct exist= ing evils. In part many of these sug- | gestions will be carried out, it is con= | sidered likely, by the present com- mission, as they are directly in line | | with the expressed desire of the Presi- dent and with the recommendations made by the Postmaster General after | the investigation of ocean mail con- | tracts. One primary consideration, of course, in establishing & moderin fleet will be its conversion to military pur- poses in time of war. “In the event of a major war,” remarked President Roosevelt in his message to Congress, commenting upon the necessity for an adequate merchant marine, “in which the United States is not involved, our | commerce, in the absence of an ade- quate merchant marine, might find itself seriously crippled because of its inability to secure bottoms for neu- tral, peaceful foreign trade. “In the event of a war in which the United States itself might be engaged, American flagships are obviously needed not only for naval auxiliaries but also for the maintenance of rea- sonable and necessary commercial in- teroourse with other nations. We should remember lessons learned in the last war.” WE MIGHT, indeed, “remember” those lessons! We needed ships then not only to move our commerce but for use as naval transports and auxiliaries. The Nation comman- deered, seized, purchased, requisi- tioned and chartered ships wherever they were to be had. The shipbuild- | profits from oil wells located m‘ ing industry grew within 20 months | swamps or inclosing fake lottery tick- from one employing abolut 50,000 ets. Working quietly and preserving people to one with more than 350,000 | anonymity as much as possible, 590 workers. Demand for materials ex- | postal inspectors, stationed all over hausted other industries, particularly ; the United States, have achieved as- the steel industry, and we resorted wJ tonishing results. building ships of wood and even con-| The figures speak for themselves. crete. Our wartime ship construction | During the fiscal year 1936, for ex- | was of such magnitude that it equaled ‘ ample, 3,459 convictions were secured the combined sea tonnage of the from 3,477 indictments out of 4,094 United States, Germany, ance.i Italy, Japan Holland and Sweden be- | postal laws—a phenomenal fore the war. average Postal arrests on charges of violating the | for an investigating body of any kind. | After the armistice contracts for more than 900 vessels were canceled. inspectors are called the | “cream” of the whole postal service Our wartime heritage of some 2,500 | 8nd are selected from any branch of vessels, acquired at the sum total of | the Post Office Department when they $3,000,000,000, proved by no means | Dave proved themseives men of initia- an efficient peacetime merchant ma- ‘ tive, ready to take responsibility and rine. They were of no commercial use after the war, and they were soon scrapped, nearly all being of pre- Wbt LR e ‘body in_the One of the recommendations of the | COUNtry, as well as their own. They interdepartmental committee was | May not be appointed inspectors when that the United States maintain ade- | Younger than 25 or older than 40, quate shipbuilding facilities not only | but are chosen primarily from the 30s. for maintenance of the merchant marine fleet, but for necessary naval INVESTIGATION of crimes such as construction irr time of national emer- mail robbery and fraudulent use gency, so that we shall not again be | of the mails is only a part of a post faced with necessity of constructing | office inspector's duty. In addition haphazardly vessels costing millions | he is an executive who bargains for of dollars that must be scrapped in | leasing post offices and supervises all peacetime. Special stress is laid on | matters concerning organization, rout- the necessity for skilled workers and | ing and personnel. It is his duty to men trained technically for such con- | see that postcards, letters and news- struction to maintain a high standard ‘\ papers are delivered as promptly as necessary to design and build modern | possible, at the lowest practical cost, vessels. Because of the wide di-|to all parts of the United States and versity of material used, practically | as far away as the Island of Guam. every State in the Union contributes | In fact, 65 per cent of the postal in- to the building of an American | spector's work has nothing to do with vessel. crime. Under the new set-up it is also But when the postal inspector is likely that every effort will be made on the trail of a man who must be to consider safety at sea to an extent | disciplined to respect the United that will stress the convention for states mails, whether carried by dog the safety of life at sea, already|teams over hundreds of unpopulated ratified by & majority of the mari- | miles in Alaska or by the airmail, time nations of the world. The | steamer, train or rural carrier along (Continued on Page B-2.) | country roads, he is a sleuth ready to seldom carry guns, although they | may at their own discretion. They use the resources of every investigat- | act with speed in emergencies. They | | to ingenuity through malice inspired | by some real or fancied grievance. In investigation of the embezzlement | ets. | of Government funds and mail mat- | ter, the inspector is concerned with | postal employes, sometimes old ac- | quaintances, who, yielding to tempta- | tion, have fallen into habits of dis- honesty which cost them their stand- ing in their communities and bring | disaster to their families. IN RARE instances, of course, the using the postage stamp proceeds with- out any apparent basis of hope of success, as in the recent suit against Clark Gable, in which a woman at- tempted to defraud him by threatening | | him in letters. Investigation in this case was initiated by the Postal In- spection Service, At least twice since mail began to | iy ghoulish thefts of registered mail | have taken place at the scene of | | wrecked mail planes with bodies still | | in the wreckage before officials ar- rived at the scene of the crash. Once | after a crash diamonds and other precious gems from a burst package in | a registered mail sack were scattered all over the terrain and the post office inspector rushed to the scene | and had to put men to work sifting | the surrounding dirt to recover val-| | uable jewels. Although so few inspectors attend to myriad duties, the thousands of persons employed by the Post Office Department are constantly pressed into service to assist them. Even the tiniest post offices in remcte spots receive circulars and letters constantly about watching certain mails when a known criminal is being sought. Who is his mother? His wife? His sweetheart? He will probably write to her eventually. A clew to his where- abouts, if not his actual address, often will be found. The general delivery window is a | “hot spot” when the man presiding there on routine duties has seen a | fugitive’s picture or his description, and no number of aliases can protect LINDY'S P “Spirit of St. Louis” Smithsonian’s No. 1 Attraction. Is By Herbert Hollander. years ago next Thursday— at 4:22 pm. Eastern standard time, May 21, 1927—Charles Augustus Lindbergh set down “The Sprit of St. Louis” on Le Bour- get, Field, France, concluding perfectly the first non-stop flight between the United States and the continent of Europe. Today Col. Lindbergh is a volun- tary exile from his homeland and the years between 1927 and the present have been filled with events which range from the highest aeronautical and scientific achievement to the deepest personal tragedy. But while the great aviator may have temporarily and reluctantly for- saken this country for reasons which must draw the sympathy and under- standing of his compatriots, it does not follow that Americans have for- gotten Lindbergh and his remarkable accomplishments. In fact, just the contrary is true. In the Smithsonian Institution his plane, “The Spirit of St. Louis,” along with an exhibit of the equipment used by Lindbergh on his South American flight, is, next to the cherry blossom display, the most popular single point of interest in the National Capital. Of the countless thousands who come to Washington each year, more want to see “The Spirit of 8t. Louis” than any other historical exhibit. Not long ago & survey among thou- sands of school children throughout the country revealed that of all the Capital's countless points of interes thousands of visitors annually in the Smithsonian Institution. LANE MAIN EXHIBIT DECADE AFTER PARIS The “Spirit of St. Louis,” in which Charles Lindbergh made his epochal New York-Paris flight, as it is viewed by hundreds of “The Spirit of St. Louis” and the Washington Monument were placed first. It is clear that Lindbergh's fame is secure and permanent and that, not- able as his other achievements have been, it is the glorious New York- Paris flight that the public finds un- forgettable. THE perfect execution of the hop, the high drama of the dangerous one-man flight of 3,600 miles in 3313 hours, the disarming naivete of the slim, fair-haired youth who introduced himself at Le Bourget as though the Whole world did not know who he was, his remarkable self-possession in the face of acclamation beside which a Roman triumph was a puny thing— all of these have combined to make the event of May 20-21 a true classic. At the Smithsonian the crowds re- live that epic. As they gaze up at “The Spirit of St. Louls,” suspended 3 from the ceiling of the anclent exhibit hall, they do so with breathless in- terest. Comments are many and varied, but invariably the visitor marvels that parently so small and slight a craft could have made so perilous a voyage. Yet it functioned beautifully through- out its more than 450 hours irf the air during the various Lindbergh flights, and even today is in excellent condi- tion. Immediately beneath “The Spirit of St. Louis” is a glass case containing such items as compass, gloves, boots, rifle, tools and other equipment car- ried by Lindbergh. These, like the ship itself, are given rapt attention by virtually every visitor to the museum. The aviator, himself, and his wife have visited the Smithsonian quite frequently since “The Spirit of St. Louis” was installed there. He usu- ally has come after closing hours and “ chatted animatedly about aeronautics with members of the staff. And it is interesting to note that he has sat in the cockpit of almost every plane in the Smithsonian's remarkably com- Pplete collection of historic ships. Immediately upon learning of the successful conclusion of the New York-Paris hop, Dr. Charles G. Abbot, secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- tion, cabled to Lindbergh requesting that the plane be placed in the mu- seum to be held in perpetuity for the American people. Lindbergh replied, indicating his own willingness, but stating that it would be necessary to secure also the permission of his friends and associates whose financial support made the flight possible. Numerous other museums requested the plane, and an especially strong bid was made by St. Louis. But sup- port for the Smithsonian's claims was 80 obvious on many grounds that Dr. Abbot's request was granted, and in - May, 1928, just a year after the New ‘York-Paris flight, “The Spirit of St. Louis” was placed on display in Wash- ington. On the day the plane went on view the largest crowd in the history | of the Smithsonian was recorded. And ever since the ship has been the ranking exhibit in point of public in- terest. IN DIRECT charge of the plane is Paul Edward Garber, assistant curator of engineering in charge of aeronautics. Garber was a mail pilot on the New York-Washington run at the time Lindbergh was carrying the mails in the Middle West. Although they did not meet before the Paris flight, they since have become friends. It is Garber himself who inspects and supervises the cleaning of “The Spirit of St. Louis.” He says the plane is still in splendid condition and that its life as an exhibit will be virtually unlimited. “It's good for hundreds of years,” he says, N FLIGHT Thursday Is Tenth Anniver- sary of Flyer’s Fa- mous Feat. Every now and then the Smithso- nian gets some new Lindbergh mate- rial. For instance, the wheels now on “The Spirit of St. Louis” are not those with which the plane was equipped for the Paris hop. Those wheels were taken off in Minneapolis during the aviator's Nation-wide tour and new wheels were installed. Discovering th2 wheels sometime later, airport officials | asked Lindbergh whether he wanted them. He replied in the affirmative and sent them on to the Smithsonian. However, he said he thought it would be appropriate to keep the present wheels on because they were in use when the ship went into the museum. At the time the plane was turned over to the Smithsonian there was an outery that it was “a shame fo put “The Spirit of St. Louis’ into a dusty museum,” and the opinion was voiced in some quarters that the ship should keep on flying until it fell apart. Such & contention seems incredibly short- sighted now, but it was made, and very seriously, too. In order to carry out the idea of flight, the Smithsonian officials have suspended “The Spirit of St. Louis” from the ceiling at the entrance to the exhibit hall. A huge glass case had been considered, but this was abandoned as impractical. Also abandoned was a plan to build & ramp up which visitors could walk for a close-up inspection of the cockpit. This was not considered feasible for several reasons, one of which was the ever-present menace | vision. miscreant who violates rules for | of that strange and ineradicable crea- ture, the nn%] souvenir hunter. I BY NATION'S NEW MARINE "7 p. 0. MEN GUARD U. S. POCKETS Small Force of Postal Inspectors Has High Batting Average in Obtaining Convictions Against Fraudulent Users of the Mails Who Prey on the Gullible. the hunted man from the evidence of the postal man's eyes. When necessary, postal inspectors ask the co-operation of police departe ments or other municipal or State investigating bod: For locating sus= picious persons, Post Office De- partment is 1 se the resort of all other investigating agencies. AT THE moment, it is the aim of the postal inspection service to break up the lottery racket, more avaricious, even, than numerous other shakedowns. In many mail frauds some small value is sometimes given in return for the victim's money, whereas fake lotteries deal only in of wealth suddenly and easily ed. Such hopes bring mi of dollars annually to the pockets of dealers in so-called sweepstakes ti Not content with bona fide lote teries, where chances of success are lim enough, unscruplous persons ave flooded the United States in ree cent years with tickets which are counterfeits of those issued by the operators of actual lotteries. Morae than 200 such cases were investigated during the fiscal year 1936, and the figures for 1937 will be much greater, according to present indications One dealer and nine associates in Kansas City, Mo., had sold more than $26,000,000 worth of such tickets when apprehended a few years ago. Eight convictions were secured. Perhaps the most incredible and despicable of all ra s Is one varie ously known as the “glimmer” and the “I. T. O.” (I take it off) racket, in which the victims are invariably elderly persons in rural communities with a high gullibility average. The “glimmer” racket is always operated by a pair of men, imposing in appearance and skilled as actors. They have found out previously, sometimes through co-operating ey glass peddlers, about persons near small communities wearing eyeglasses, and with savings in the bank. One man makes his entrance, say- ing that he is a representative of an optical company, sent around to check up on the glasses. Test frames and lenses are used, all of which distort The examiner becomes grave. After much conversation and trying of lenses, through which no one could see properly, the examiner says he happens to have a famous eye doctor in the car with him, who has just completed an operation in a rather distant spot—perhaps he can per= suade this great man to come in, this being a most unusual and interesting case. The great man is persuaded. He, too, becomes grave. A cataract is forming and the patient will become blind unless it is removed. That, he declares, is easy. Any of the fine American hospitals have competent men who will remove it for around $2,000 or $3,000. He prepares to de= part, putting his lenses back in his case. ons BUT the other “con” man protests. You do not understand, sir,” he says. “That is a lot of money for these people—it may be prohibitive.” After a great deal of fine acting, to which the elderly couple listen in terror, the doctor is persuaded to do the opera= tion then and there, despite his proe tests about being put out of the Amer= ican Medical Association and pro- fessional ethics. The victims pledge themselves to secrecy. There will be no charge at all, he says. Under the circumstances, he can't consider a fee. But he will have to charge for the radium used, because that is vale uable and belongs to the hospital. The doctor gives a lot of orders about towels and boiled water, puts the “radium watet” (an ordinary eye wash) in the eye and sends all but the patient from the room. In the mean- time the “doctor” has gone to his car and placed in his mouth the skin line ing from the inside of an eggshell cr some other thin membrane. While the patient has the wash in his eye the doctor places this skin on the eye ball and then removes it with a 15« cent, pair of tweezers. He shows it to every one in the household, but it must then be burned —contact with it will give cancer, ha declares. The eye wash serves as a measure for the price charged for the “radium.” It has been placed in the eye, drop by drop, with the “doctor® saying, “$100, $200,” and so on up. ‘When the victim protests that he may not be able to pay for more, it turns out that the correct amount has been used. Sometimes the sum taken is as low as $500, but more often it is $1.= 000 or $2,000. The “glimmer men" accept cash, or cash the check at the bank at once and depart. If it is learned that the victims have any more money word is passed along to two additional men who call, saying that they are physicians and have come from the great man who has Just been killed in an auto (or aire plane) accident. He usually is supe posed to have died in the speaker’s arms but at any rate before his death the speaker promised to return to the old couple find out if the operation had been a success and if not to re- turn the money. The “doctor” re-examines the pa- tient and achieves a professional air of distress. The cataract has not re- turned but the patient has “cancer- osis” or ‘“cancerette” of the eye. If something isn't done about it loss of sight and ultimately death will be the result. The victim is frantic. The “physician” extends a ray of hope. A German scientist “Dr. Krupp” in- vented a belt full of radium designed to cure that ailment but Krupp is dead and the secret of his invention died with him. However there are six belts in xistence, all owned by great hospitals in various parts of the world. This doctor can get hold of one and the patient can have it for 10 days at $1.50 a day. Because of the value of the belt, however, the patient will be asked to put up a deposit of $1,000 or $2,000 (whatever the victim is thought to have). The check for this deposit is taken off and cashed at a “fence.” Because these checks go through the " (Continued on Page B-2.) N