PAG~E X
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Conditions Bad Only The Beginning,' Warns
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Cur'tis Direct,.
In lnsIitutin , JFeaihern'iu ()f 10retie ( 4i r' Work O t(;iide
Repa-ut lbevtak s StuI-/A'ro Weather Marks new recolwis for irolonged sevenity, OfU IthI tnti
according to J. B. Kincer, chief of the
hange In Cycle FromorhousesDescribeAdivision of climate and crop weather. Publication Will Be Prio
iretraps r By Welfarea Mild To Cold Years "The persistently wemperatur pelICtnli
Firetaps'By Wefarehave brought the present cold spell To Comnmencement;- Ah
Glass Bricks Are Practical And
I'rofilbl e, cipk4 nfclwy Ielieves
1"resent Use 0) New Iricks retarding the general adoption of
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t
nvestigators in Lansing
Aged Exposed To
Confined With
Report Charges
Disease,
Insane,
LANSING, Feb. 27. - () - State
welfare department investigators
charged today that aged inmates of
county poorhouses, in many instances
are sheltered in fire traps, exposed to
disease, shut in with the insane, and
maintained in degrading circum-
stances.
The charges marked a report on
the condition of 71 out of the 82 in-
firmaries maintained in the state.
Grover C. Dillman, former state wel-
fare director, instigated the rigid sur-
vey which led to the report.
Mrs. Fern Smith Hammond, deputy
state welfare director, who directed
compilation of the report, said she
will lay it before the state welfare
commission when it meets here March
12. She personally visited some of
the infirmaries and described con-
ditions she encountered as "atro-
cious,"
Has Little Power
The deputy director'said the com-
mission can only investigate condi-
tions and report them and has no
power to force counties to improve
their infirmaries. She pointed out
that the state health department has
authority to close them if they men-
ace public health.
Mrs. Hammond cited instances of
undesirable conditions in the infirm-
aries, but refused to name specific
counties until the report is placed
before the commission. Among the
charges listed against unidentified
infirmaries were:
One housed four children and used
a bathroom as a maternity hospital.
In a second, insane inmates were
housed temporarily in a basement cell
which was used as a dog kennel when
not occupied by patients.
A 60-year-old building had no fire
escapes and housed a 14-year-old
girl with its aged inmates.
Another infirmary failed to segre-
gate men and women in different
quarters and had nine delinquent
boys housed among its inmates. An
investigator reported inmates of this
institution were "afraid to talk."
Sleep In Garage
A building used as an infirmary
had inmates on the third floor, but
fire escapes which reached only to
the second floor, another had fire
escapes blocked with beds, a third
had screens nailed shut in a manner
which would prevent escape in case
of fire.
Mrs. Hammond said the survey re-
vealed 10 aged persons sleeping in
a four-car garage, others housed in a
portion of an abandoned tuberculosis
sanatorium building, and others in a
building previously used for storing
grain.
The report showed that the average
amount spent to maintain an inmate
in a county infirmary is 50 cents a
day. The amounts varied with coun-
ties from 27 cents to 84 cents. In one
county the keeper of the infirmary re-
ceived 65 cents a day for mainten-
ance of his charges. His "savings"
from maintenance costs constituted
his salary. The average salary paid
keepers was $125 a month.
Await Transfer
Mrs. Hammond disclosed that 133
supposedly insane persons are housed
in 35 of the infirmaries, awaiting
admission to state institutions.
Among the populations of the poor
houses are 88 alleged feebleminded
persons, 49 cases regarded as epi-
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27. - (,)
Take it fromn the United States
weather bureau, the present winter
is worse in prolonged severity than
any grandpa can remember.
And the chances are better than
even that cold and wet winters will
be the rule for some time to come
if the present one marks the end of a
cycle of about 25 years in which the1
weather has been growing progres-
sively milder throughout the world.
Bureau officials will make no pre-
dictions on that score but have been
expecting for several years that just
such a reversal will occur. If it
comes, the winters for a long time in
the future will make conditions in re-
cent winters seem almost tropical by
contrast.
Maximum Low: 66 Below
The present cold spell has not
broken the maximum low tempera-
ture record of the United States,
which is 66 degrees below zero, set in
Yellowstone Park, Feb. 9, 1933. It
is unusual, however, in setting many
Situation Remains
Critical In Tokio
(Continued from Page 1)
to one of the longest and most severe
ever experienced in this country, and
in some northwestern districts all
previous records for continuous cold
have been broken," he declared.
Many reports of temperatures
ranging from 20 to 40 degrees below
zero have been received, Kincer said.
Snow Helps Winter Wheat
Heavy snow which has accompan-
ied the cold has been beneficial in
the main winter wheat area of the
Dakotas, Minnesota and Nebraska, he
added, in protecting the crop and
providing a moisture supply to car-
ry it through the spring.
The only area which has not re-
ceived helpful snow is the section
which needs it most - the "dust
bowl" of Kansas, Colorado, New Mex-
ico, Texas and Oklahoma - Kincer
said. There the ground is extremely
dry and dust storms have occurred
during recent weeks. "The prospects
are that unless rain falls in that
area during the spring we will have
bad dust storms again," he declared.
"In all other sections of the coun-
try the moisture situation is favor-
able and in the south there has been
too much rain. It is delaying spring
farming operations," Kincer added.
Cooler, Wetter Summers
Thus far the cold has not adverse-
ly affected agriculture since it has
not caused any severe damage in
southern truck crop areas, he said.
In the area stretching from Ohio to
Kansas the snow has not been suf-
ficient to protect the soil but the
damage is not serious.
A reversal of the weather trend will
also mean a tendency toward cooler,
wetter summers, eliminating fear of
droughts, Kincer said.
SELASSIE RUMORED ILL
ROME, Feb. 28. (Friday - - (AP)
Rumors that Emperor Haile Selassie
was sick or wounded circulated here
today following receipt of Italian dis-
patches from Djibouti, French Soma-
liland, that the Ethiopian ruler's
Given By Civic Grou1ps
Prof. Heber D. Curtis, of the as-
tronomy department is directing
plans for the publication of a book-'
let, "A Guide to the Huron River,"
it has been announced.
The booklet will be published joint-
ly by the University and the Ann Ar-
bor Chamber of Commerce sometime
prior to Commencement, this June.
Civic groups in both Ann Arbor and
Ypsilanti and the State Normal Col-
lege are cooperating to aid in gath-
ering material for the booklet.
Among the writers to be represent-
ed are President Alexander G. Ruth-
ven, who will write the forward. Oth-
ers contributing chapters are Regent
Junius S. Beal, vice-president Shir-
ley W. Smith, Dean Samuel T. Dana,
Dean Henry M. Bates, Professor-
emeritus William H. Hobbs, Prof.!
Walter C. Sadler, Prof. H. W. King,
Prof. C. O. Wisler, Prof. William C.
Hoad, Prof. Lewis M. Gram, Prof.
Harlow O. Whittemore, Prof. Ken-
neth C. McMurray, Prof. Carl L.
Hubbs, Prof. C. D. LaRue and Pro-
fessor Curtis. -
The booklet, according to Professor
Curtis, is being published not only to
afford pleasure to persons living near
or travellingon the Huron River, but
also to make way for improvements
on the river in the future. Possibili-
ties for developing the Huron River
valley as a huge playground and re-
creational center for a large area will
be indicated.
Consisting of 40 pages, the bookletj
will contain 25 colored illustrations
and a three-colored map of the river
and the surrounding territory. On I
this map will be shown what has been
done in the way of improvement and
what should be done.
Swedish physician had suddenly been
summoned to Dessye, near which the
Negus was understood to have his
headquarters.
I
Hindered By High Costs,
Professor States
Although the old adage warns that
people who live in glass houses
shouldn't throw stones, there is, in
the opinion of Prof. G. M. McConkey
of the College of Architecture, a
strong possibility that exactly that
situation may someday exist.
The use of the glass bricks re-
cently introduced in America has,
said Professor McConkey, a. great fu-
ture in the construction of both
I homes and factories. Its success will
be due largely to the fact, he said,
that the new material is being given
a great deal of publicity, and has,
besides, some definite advantages. The
greatest point in favor of the hollow
glass bricks is, he feels, the fact that
a whole building can be built by
masons alone, thus saving the ex-
pense of using the labor of carpen-
ters.
The glass brick is made of two
halves which are sealed together
under great heat. The heat causes
a partial vacuum inside the brick,
and this vacuum gives the brick ex-
cellent insulating properties, which
can be of great value when used in
conjunction with modern air-condi-
tioning equipment. The glass also
has the great advantage of admitting
light, and this factor, says Prof. Mc-
Conkey, makes it of value in building
factories, where the health and effi-
ciency of workers is improved by the
admission of large quantities of light.
The bricks can also be used in a
purely decorative motive, as is evi-
denced by the brightly colored
samples which have been received at
the College of Architecture from com-
panies in Illinois and Ohio.
The great disadvantage in using
the glass bricks, says Prof. McConkey
is their cost, which is twice as much
per square foot as that of the stand-
ard building brick. Although the high
cost is slightly balanced by the de-
crease in labor costs, he feels that the
cost will be an important reason for
glass bricks.
Another use of glass which Prof.
McConkey finds much more practical
is at present being developed at the
laboratories of the University of Wis-
consii. The new glass, called 'phe-
nol resin,"is being used to glue to-
gether large squares of plywood,
which are actually peeled from trees
by a great knife. This glass is made
to melt at a temperature of 300 de-
grees Centigrade, and having once
been melted and poured, becomes wa-
ter-proof, and invulnerable to mois-
ture and weathering.
The principal of the glass brick
is traced by Prof. McConkey back to
the Parthenon, where, it is believed by
some archeologists, translucent tiles
may have been used to allow light to
enter the temple, which has a large
door as its only opening. In more
recent times, the ,glass tiles used in
sidewalks, which are similar to those
used in the roof of the Yost Field
House, may also have been the in-
spiration for the glass bricks.
GauIt To Address
Ci itiiil Forit
IroI I"h.dt r ft, ; built of tle S 1ic ool
of Bmines Administration, will
speak at 4 p.m. Sunday on the topic
of "Problem of the Consumer - Are
Cooperatives the Way Out?" at the
meeting of the Ann Arbor Communi-
ty Forum in the auditorium of Perry
School at Division and Packard
Streets.
Professor Gault and two other rec-
ognized authorities on cooperative
production and marketing will pre-
sent the issues of the problem after
which members of the audience will
be given a chance to discuss it in-
formally. Harold S. Gray, president
of the Saline Valley farms and Lu-
cius E. Williamson, president of the
Michigan Cooperative association will
speak on the program with Professor
Gault.
I Engraved $1 I
1 0 Cards & PateJI. J
THE ATHENS PRESS
'Printers
City's Lowest Prices on
308 North Main Street -
Printing.
Dial 2-1013
1-
and taken to Okada's humble home in
Yodobashi, there to await funeral
services.
The death of the minister of fi-
nance Korekiyo Takahashi was
equally dramatic: The insurgents
entered his bedroom and one opened
fire with a pistol. Although hit
three times, the minister still stood.
"What are you trying to do?" He
demanded of the intruders.
The question, witnesses, said,
seemed to infuriate the officer at the
head of the assassins. He drew his
sword and slashed at Takahashi,
nearly severing the elderly states-
man's right arm. Takahashi died
within a few hours.
The wife of Admiral Viscount Ka-
oto Saigo, lord keeper of the privy
seal, was with her husband at their
residence not far from the im-
perial palace when a party of about
a score of the rebels armed with ma-
chine guns broke in. She tried to
move between the assassins and her
husband, and even placed her hand
over the muzzle of one of the ma-
chine guns being used to kill him.
Her hand was wounded. Ameri-
can Ambassador Joseph Grew, who
had entertained her and the Viscount
at dinner only a few hours previously,
called upon her late yesterday and
expressed sympathy.
(The fourth statesman assassinat-
ed was General Jotardo Watanabe,
director of military education, who
was killed in his residence.)
leptics, nine persons suffering from
tuberculosis, and 53 inmates suffering
from various other diseases.
The total population of the 71 in-
firmaries investigated was 4,054 per-
sons. The average capacity of the in-
stitutions was 55 persons and the
average population 56 persons. The
majority of the poor houses are two-
story buildings, and the report said
some of them dated back to 1860. Mrs.
Hammond explained that the capa-
city of the houses is not taxed dur-
ing the summer months, but a winter
influx of clients, sometimes raises the
population from 25 to 50 per cent over
normal capacity.
The deputy director said many of
the institutions made little attempt
to segregate sick persons, failed to
give them physical examinations on
admittance, and fed them on milk
from untested dairy herds. She de-
clared 20 infirmaries have inadequate
fire escapes.
The
Michigan Wo lverine
Lane Hall
Cordially extends to All,
Without Obligation, a One-Week
Trial Offer:
TWEN'T'Y FINE MEALS
Four Dollars and Twenty-Five Cents
R. S. V. P.
Hootkins Relates Experiences
As Army Interpreter In War
E' 'i
A talk by Prof. Hirsch Hootkins of
the French department on his ad-
ventures during the World War, in
which he served as interpreter for
the United States army in France,
was the feature of the monthly meet-
ing of the Forestry Club Wednesday
night.
Professor Hootkins had just been
graduated from the University of Chi-
cago when hostilities began, and when
the United States entered the war
he went into the army as a volunteer,
entraining from Grand Rapids for
the Columbus, O., recruiting camp.
Upon saying that he was a teacher of
foreign languages, he revealed, he
was "immediately put into the 20th;
Engineers Corps, Company C."
But before he embarked for Brest
in 1917 from Hoboken, Professor
Hootkins had been transferred to the
28th Engineers, which was fortunate
for him in that the transport ship
bearing his original company was tor-
pedoed in mid-ocean.
His first experiences as an English-
French interpreter came at Brest,
where he charged doughboys a franc
for each article he bought for them
in the shops, and when his squad was
moved forward he was four thousand
francs richer. The colonel, hearing
of his "racket," requested his presence
and put him through a series of tests
to determine his ability as an inter-
preter. After going with the colonel
to various shops, where he success-
fully put through purchases of spot
removers and girth straps for horses.
Professor Hootkins was made, official
interpreter for the company.
Professor Hootkins cited the gen-
erosity of American soldiers in an in-
cident that occurred at Nante, where
the company was encamped for some
weeks. The only suitable drinking
water was at the home of a fine old
French family, impoverished by the
demands of war. The woman of the
house extended hospitality to the
men at all times, and when the order
came to move away, the 118 members
of the company made up a donation
in appreciation.
"When generous American soldiers
who know little about francs start
making up a contribution, there's
little telling what might be the out-
come," Professor Hootkins said,.
"When the contributions were over,
the cap full of francs and currency
was carried to the mother who wept
at the sight of enough money to send
her daughter away to school for sev-
eral years."
Many are the adventures and en-
counters that the professor remem-
bers of his days in France, and at the
front: the five days journey toward
the front in railway cars for "40
hommes, 8 chevals"; his first en-
counter with the whistling noise a
shell makes and the ensuing panic,
when he lost control of his knees;
the night the German airplanes mis-
took his dugout for an ammunition
dump in the dtarkness:
Ancient, primitive man used his eyes
-(falmost entirely out-of-doors, in the day-
es were developed for Now we use eyes for close time, under very high intensities of light
distance seeing seeing -ntensities hundreds of times greater
than we find indoors today. When the sun went down, he went to sleep. And he used his
eyes for distant, not close seeing-hunting, fishing, looking at large objects. Even in Abra-
ham Lincoln's time very few people studied or sewed or read far into the night as we do.
Eyes were developed for bright light
i
' 4 r'
Today we work under low brightness
BLUE
MOON
DANCE
Modern civilization has completely changed all this. We have lightly tossed aside the fact
that our eyes were in the process of developing for hundreds of thousands of years-develop-
ing for distance seeing under tremendous quantities of natural daylight. In the last few
centuries we have taken liberties with all four of nature's principles-distance seeing, lots
of light to aid our eyes, a relatively short day, and easy visual tasks. Instead, we have
substituted close-seeing indoors, extremely low levels of lighting, a much longer (lay,
abnormally severe visual tasks.
The eye is a wonderful organ! But is it
any wonder that there are so many people
{ with defective eyes? lere are the latest
figures for damaged eyesight among
Nature's plan wasa short day Man's day extends into the people of varying ages:
night
Grade school students..................................20%
College students.............................. ...........40%
40 years.................................................60%
60 years. ............................................95%
SATURDAY
RAINBOWROOM
Wichigan Union
1. Featuring - DON LOOMIS, formerly with Seymour Simons
2. Featuring - FAVORS and NOISEMAKERS
3. Featuring - That Famous Comic Skit, "LITTLE NELL"
4. Featuring - Another Entertaining UNION FLOOR SHOW
I M - -Aria
KAL /f
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In the process of seeing there are three
factors:
1. THE VISUAL TASK-We cannot
change our visual tasks. The act of
living imposes certain visual tasks and
our jobs require others.
Primitive tasks were easy on
the eyes
Today's tasks involve fine
details
2. THE EYES-A wonderfully exact science has been developed for correcting
eve defects with Masses. For defective eves, there are no substitutes for the