Miscellany, Mar. 6, 1939

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Lunch

In Mexico City, a Government order reduced the lunch-and-siesta period for Government employes from four hours to three.

Poll

In Manhattan, a Gallup poll claimed that 14,000,000 people have read all or part of Gone With the Wind, that 56,500,000 (65% of the movie public) want to see the picture. Of the 56,500,000, only 16% are dissatisfied with the choice of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett.

Umpires

In Wichita, Kans., President Ray Dumont of the National Semi-pro Baseball Congress announced that he planned to dress his umpires next season in stripes. He explained that, since semi-pros wear all sorts of colors, "the striped uniform . . . serves as the best contrast," denied that fans' shouts of "thief" and "robber" had anything to do with the proposed change.

Typists

In Cleveland, after scientific tests with typists, Patent Attorney Frank M. Slough declared that the average typist does more manual labor in an eight-hour day than a ditchdigger.

Trail

In Wheeling, W. Va., a 16-year-old student rifled a high-school soda shop and took away $4 in nickels. Police easily trailed him to his home, two blocks from the school. Reason: he had a hole in his pocket.

Vaccination

In Indianapolis, a young woman who had been vaccinated for smallpox rubbed the small pink spot on her arm with her finger, with the same finger vigorously scratched her nose. Few days later, her doctor found that, while the vaccination had not taken on her arm, it certainly had on her nose.

Reasons

A bed designer named Norman Dine announced that he had polled 500 wives, found that three out of four preferred double beds to twin beds. Reasons: sleeping with someone is "restful and reassuring"; "It is difficult to continue a quarrel in a double bed."

In the New York World-Telegram appeared the following advertisement: "Washington's birthday is more than toy hatchets and silver dollar tossing. . . . We can hang our flags in a proud land, rich and free. We should hang out a large flag on every proper occasion. A large flag to fit a large country. America is an expansive country. Wanamaker's is an expansive store. Our flags are inexpansive."