The Coolidge examiner., 1938-09-29

make an award every year 10 the
~. person who had
1T DtmoTs provided tn e m
SuperlatiUe with the most
Ne.Os Source good copy. In New
York, I would
nominate DR.. Raymond l.. Ditmars.
for 80 years curator Of mammals
and reptiles at the Bronx zoo, al
most any year. He has just left for
Trinidad to catch some parasol ants.
which he has been craving for a
long time. 1t has been generally
supposed that the ants pack leaves
and petals for shade. DR.. Ditmars
puts us right on that They gather
them only for food.
The curator has exploded many
myths, but usually substitutes some
thing even more interesting. Rep
tiles haven't the slightest interest
In sweet music and aren't soothed
by it, monkeys will return to cleared
jungle If it grows again; the mother
snake does not swallow the little
OtlCo III VI QdilSeI.
But. being thus disillusioned. we
learn from DR.. Ditmars that there
are sea serpents, great schools of
them, in the Indian ocean and the
western tropical Pacific. They are
as gaudy as an Elks' parade, with
cold. beady eyes. and emit a dread
full venom. DR.. Ditmars carries
them on the books as hydrophiinae
There are flying snakes, fish
that climb trees, fish that shoot
down bugs out of the air by ex-
pelling pellets of water like an
air gun. frogs that can swallow
rats, frogs with vocal power
1000 times that of a man, in
sectS which are carried by jun
gle people for flashIamps, ami
mails which can travel 60 miles
an hour and animals which new
er lie down.
DR.. Ditmars is 81 years old Al
the age of Is, he began gathering
insects for the Museum of Natural
History. He had a year of news
paper work before joining the staff
of the zoo. which may account for
his being a friendly Santa Claus to
reporters.
IT is recalled that Homer Martin,
the fighting parson who contends
with John L. Lewis in a Faustian
struggle for the body and soul of the
automobile union,
Homer Martin was the world hop,
May Still Be skip and jump
World Champ fan, champion poar. Just nao a
and may be still 1t is only three
years ago that he quit the pastorate
of the Leeds Baptist church in Kan
sas City. got a job in the Fisher
plant. organized the local Of the
United Automobile Workers union
and became its first international
president.
His battle soon turned from
the bosses to the Ieft-wingers of
the union and that's the issue of
his contention with Mr.. Lewis.
Getting under way, he eloquent
ly plastered william Green of
the A. F. of l.. and 1t is not
clear where he would be headed
In case of a final break with the
c. L. o. leadership.
He is tall. athletic-once a track
star for the Illinois Athletic club
with a wide. ready smile and she'll
trimmed glasses. He gets So. 900 a
year for whole lot of trouble and
strife. but seems to enjoy it. He is
Sc years old, born and reared on
southern Illinois farm.
THIS writer knew quite number
l. of early-day aviatorS, including
Lincoln Beachey. Art Smith, Bob
Fowler. 81 ChriStofferson and others,
and he always
Col. Turner wondered why
In Sploshes none of them ever
OfCov CoIors dressed the part.
They all were as
drab as so many gray moths, while
their role certainly called for dash
of color. One thought of the sar-
torial dash of d'Artagnan. Porthos
and Athos if they had been riding
the skies.
Col Roscoe Turner, who recently
lifted the Thompson trophy at Cleve-
land. for the second time, winning
$4,000, satisfies a long-felt want
His flying togs are modelled on the
old-time pousse cafe, calculated to
give him protective coloring against
flaming sunset, but high visibility
from below.
For years, off and on, he has
been picking up records in pink
pants and a lavender tunic, or
In an ensemble blending many
shades of blue, cerise and hem
na, with rakish English Off
GERS cap, ruddy face, Grover
Whalen wax-tipped mustache
and couple of octaves of fine
teeth. Here, as the old books
on decOrum would have it, is an
outfit which would take you
around the world.
Colonel Turner is of California