In Indianapolis

Indianapolis, Ind., a town of much political consciousness and confusion, was committed to Daylight Saving Time by its City Council. Its mayor then vetoed the ordinance. But last week the City Council overrode the veto, six votes to three. Effective in the repassage was Novelist-Councilman Meredith Nicholson (The House of a Thousand Candles, The Port of Missing Men, Otherwise Phyllis, etc., etc.), now serving his first term. Mr. Nicholson reported that he had received a telegram from Will H. Hays, cinema tsar, declaring that "the movies" would be ruined in Indianapolis if clocks were put ahead one hour. Mr. Nicholson retorted that he had just been in Manhattan, which seemed to be doing well on Daylight Saving Time, and averred that the cinema industry was not going to step in, if he could help it, to say that Indianapolitans should not have an extra hour in their public parks.

The measure was repassed and Mayor L. Ert Slack of Indianapolis honored it and ordered the city's clocks set ahead an hour, which was done. But then it was discovered that, though one of the distinguished City Councilmen has written successful novels, the City Council had written an impotent ordinance. There was no enforcement clause. Indianapolitans, including cinema exhibitors, kept their clocks as they chose with impunity. Time passed through Indianapolis on uneven feet. Confusion reigned. Lawyers puzzled.