Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 21

Chicago Tribune. Thursday, October 25f 1 979 2 Visitor falls prey to fare play in Chicago Sizing up the foot, and other feats for good measure By Charles Leroux AITHERSBURG, Md. The toughest questions are the simple ones. If you have small children, you know that. "Congratulations, you re 3 feet tau." Amenhotep I commanded a black granite bar to be fashioned as the royal cubit representing the distance from Amenhotep I's elbow to the tip of his middle finger, 20.63 inches as it turns out.

In the Egypt of 5,000 years Ago, that bar was the standard of length measurement. Wooden cubits were made to match it and were used in the building of the Great Pyramid. Such a standard, of course, could be subject to change of regime. Amenhotep 'II might have an 18-inch cubit, and the Alexandria lumber yard would have a problem. English King Henry it is said, decreed that a yard was the distance from the tip of his nose to the end of In our sloppy world of 'nearfys' and 'almosts' and 'by and larges if natural to look to a place somewhere over the rainbow where the unchanged arid unchanging reside, where the measure of the everyday world can be taken.

the thumb on his outstretched arm. A more democratic approach to setting standards is shown in a European woodcut from 1575. It depicts 16 men lined up heel to toe. The distance from the first toe to the last heel was divided by 16 to yield an "average" foot. A 1774 map of the Tyrol showed that, even in such a small country, there were two kinds of foot, the "workshoes of Vienna" the longer "workshoes of Innsbruch." There were two kinds of mile, the "common German mile," and the "great German mile," and if a Tyrolean set foot (either kind) across the border into Italy, he'd find the mile there longer than those back home.

AROUND THE begining of this century in the United States things were confusing, too. In Brooklyn alone, there were four kinds of feet, the U.S. foot, the Williamsburg foot, the Bushwick foot, and the 26th Ward foot. Surveyors trembled with impotent rage; real estate tax assessors tore their hair. In 1790, George Washington, in his first annual report to the Congress, said, "Uniformity in the currency, weights, and measures of the United States is an object of great importance, and will, I am persuaded, be duly attended to." But it wasn't.

Washington made another plea in his second annual address and yet another in his third, this last time calling for "a standard at once in- variable and universal." Man as a measure wasn't working. The "invariable and universal" standard wasn't a new idea. A contemporary of Protagorus, Socratesr had strolled the streets of Athens talking with his friends about a similar' thought. He expressed it in terms of beds and tables. "There are, of course, many beds and tables," Socrates said.

"But of forms in connection wjth these articles, there are, I believe, only two, one the form of a bed, and one that of a table." The great teacher was referring to the "tableness" that underlies all individual tables, the prototypical table 'upon which perhaps the prototypical tape measure lies. IN OUR SLOPPY world of "nearlys" and "almosts" and "by and larges," it's natural to look to a place somewhere over the rainbow where the unchanged and Continued on page 5 "How do you know?" "I measured you. The tape says you're 3 feet tall." "How does it know?" "Measurement is comparing an unknown quantity, in this case you, to a standard, in this case the tape measure. The tape measure knows." "How does it know?" When you get right down to it, how does it know? What assurance is there that the guy next door isn't using a tape of slightly smaller inches and that his kid will sound bigger? When yo.u finally get around to building those bookshelves, how do you know you won't get boards the size of Popsicle sticks because the lumber yard used a short measure? And even if your tape measure (one that retracts smartly when you push a button and clips conveniently to your belt) agrees with the neighbor's and the lumber yard's, do they all correspond with the tape measure in the sky, tape measure numero uno, the prototypical tape measure, the tape measure's tape measure? ALTHOUGH THE lumber yard example may seem farfetched, for most of the span of human endeavor mea- surement of length (the form of measurment we'll deal with in this article) was a muddle. About 400 years before the birth of Christ, the Greek philosopher Protagorus said, "Man is the' measure of all things." For a long time before and a long time after, man was.

CHICAGO CAN be such a warm, friendly city. Adam Ayala is a Mexican citizen who is living here on a six-month permit from the Immigration Service. He is 37 years old, a tiny, frail man who has a physical handicap he 'lost his right hand in an industrial accident. Ayala speaks almost no English. He is living with a family whose members help him deal with life in America, and act as translators for him.

His main helper is Mrs. Anita Mendoza, 70, who has been assisting Mexicans in the United States both legal visitors and "illegals" for 30 years. A week ago Sunday, Ayala arrived at O'Hare Airport from a visit to some relatives in Los Angeles. Since he was not met by anyone, he stood in line, got in a cab, and gave Mrs. Mendoza's address 2430 W.

Arthington. (Because of Ayala's problems with speaking English, all the quotes in this article have been translated by Mrs. Mendoza.) "The driver of the cab was a man who appeared to be powerful and tall," Ayala said. The driver headed onto the Kennedy Expressway and asked Ayala if he had enough money to pay for the ride. Ayala said, "Yes." The driver then asked Ayala how much money he had with him.

Ayala, confused by the language barrier, finally understood, and told the driver the truth $150. According to Ayala, the driver then said that the fee would be $110. (MRS. MENDOZA said that she has taken cabs from O'Hare to her home many times, and that the fare is generally around $16.) "The driver requested the fare in such a way that I couldn't refuse to pay, for fear of harm," Ayala said. He said that he was afraid of the driver.

The driver repeated his demand that Ayala must pay him the $110. "By the tone of his voice, I was afraid," Ayala said. Ayala said that another cab pulled up beside the cab he was riding in. His driver pointed toward the back seat, and laughed with the driver of the neighboring cab. "I am very small, and have no right hand," Ayala said.

"I cannot fight or defend myself." Asked what was going through his mind, Ayala said: "I felt scared. I was all alone in his cab. I did not know if he would hurt me or make me get out of the cab in a strange neighborhood if I refused." Ayala said the driver took him to a corner near Mrs. Mendoza's house, but did not take him directly to the door. He said that he paid the driver the $110.

AS HE GOT OUT of the cab carrying his suitcase, he looked at the side of the cab. He said that it was Checker No. 3712. He walked to Mrs. Mendoza's home and told her in Spanish what had happened to him.

He was very upset. Mrs. Mendoza immediately called the police department's 911 emergency number to report the incident. The police were very sympathetic and concerned. They gave her a number at City Hall and told her to ask for the Vehicle Commissioner's office.

When she was connected with that number, she was told to call another office that specialized in complaints. When she reached that office she was told to call the office bf Checker Cabs. When she reached Checker, she was told to call another city number to make an official complaint. At that number, someone took the details of the complaint and said that it would be referred to the right party. AND UP TO NOW, of course, Ayala and Mrs.

Mendoza have not heard a word. Which is not all that surprising they are two ordinary people with non-American names raising a ruckus about something that, in the grand scheme of life in the city, is not all that important. VI have seen this happen before to Mexicans who don't speak much English and are new here," Mrs. Mendoza said. "A cab driver will see how easy it is to confuse someone and shake them down for money, and will charge them $35, $45, $50.

Many of the Mexicans are here illegally, and they can't say anything about it because they might be found out. "But Adam is in the United States legitimately, and the thought of him being taken for $110 just because he is small and handicapped and easy to fuse it makes me very unhappy that people would do such a thing." (Such alleged shakedowns are not confined to Mexicans, by the way. At least one woman attorney in Chicago was forced to pay $45 for a $15 fare by a Chicago cab driver who simply intimidated her in the same way Ayala was intimidated by implying that she was in for physical harm or expulsion from the cab in a dangerous neighborhood if she didn't pay up.) In Ayala's case, of course, it comes down to the word of a confused Mexican who doesn't understand much English and who recorded the number of the cab while under great stress against the word of a cab driver who may or may not be approached- by his superiors. "I am a Mexican," Ayala said. "I am perhaps, considered a 'dumb Mexican' by some people, but even a 'dumb Mexican' has feelings.

It hurts to be abused and to be considered stupid and to have your money taken. I am human, and I believe I deserve some consideration from my fellow man." Cooper the Cool handles a hair-raiser mjMr Jf 4IH mum Him nut ptr -I 4 Y. It 1 m. 4, i 4 Ik 7 S.izr. c- 'I iv hfl(JfW r.

i 1 tit Vl i -X- iMirl By the end of 1962, all but two of the original seven astronauts had made it into 'space. Deke Slayton had been grounded by a minor heart irregularity, and it would be years before he would make it up aboard Apollo 18. That left Gordon Cooper for the final Mercury flight. Despite the success of the earlier flights, the old taunt was still there. It was not so loud as it once was, but as far as the test flight brethren at Edwards Air Force Base in California were concerned, the astronauts were still more passengers than pilots.

And despite all the pub- licitv and national acclaim, they all knew that pilots were the only true possessors of the right stuff. By Tom Wolfe Last of five parts Stardom it isn't, -but amateurs get their hour By Carol Oppenheim EOSTON A middle-aged woman distractedly plaited the ends of her belt. Ashtrays overflowed with candy wrappers and containers of takeout drinks. Snatches of nervous conversation floated through the air. 7 "John didn't want to take lessons, after a while, everyone was telling me how good he is and.

"Do I look all right? Do you like my hair this way? Or should I do it this way? Is my makeup OK? Oh, Jesus, I just know I'm going to open my mouth and "I had the day off so I took care of the kids and she practiced. I must have heard the same song 50 limes. She always does the same song on the show and. It was a typical Monday night in the waiting room at WBZ-TV as a handful of amateur performers, accompanied by family and friends, anxiously endured the final moments before they would be led to a barnlike studio for the weekly taping of "Community Auditions." THE SHOW, which started Aug. 27, 1950, claims to be the longest running TV show after "Meet the' And it probably is the only true imitation of the defunct "Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour" that's stil on the air.

"The Gene Carroll Show" on WEWS- TV in Cleveland alsois a forum for Continued on page 3 UPI Telepholo Gordon Cooper beside the Faith 7: Why not sleep, indeed? FAR AS A Mercury flight was concerned, Gordon Cooper seemed ito regard it as easy enough. He had lobbied as hard as Deke Slayton -----1 1 i launch days always went. You hit the sack in Hangar about 10 or 11 the night before, and then they woke you-up about 3 a.m., in the dark, and they took you out to the rocket, and they laid you down on a contoured couch for two, three, four hours while they tuned in all the systems for the liftoff. You didn't have a damned thing to do, really, during most of this; so why not catch up on all the sleep you'd missed? Throughout America, throughout the world, untold millions were by their radios and in front of television sets, waiting for the moment of liftoff, wondering, as always, What goes through a Continued on next page himself for more pilot control of the spacecraft. But since you didn't have it, why get excited? Why get your bowels in an uproar? Just take the ride and relax.

Early in' the morning of May 15, 1963, while it. was still dark, Gordo was inserted into the little human holster atop the rocket. As usual there was a long hold before the liftoff. The doctors monitoring the biomedical telemetry be- gan noticing something very odd. In fact, they couldn't believe it.

Every objective reading of the calibrations and printouts indicated the astronaut had gone to sleep! The man was up there stacking Z's on top of a rocket loaded with 200,000 pounds of liquid oxygen! Well, why the hell not? Gordo had had plenty of opportunity to see how the THE SOUND OF THE WAVES AT NIGHT CAN 3 VERY SOOTHING I CAN UNPER5TANP UHV SOME PEOPLE LIKE I LULLEP TO SLEEP BY THE SOUNP'OFTHEliAVES LAPPING- A6AINST THE -aPEGFW WATER PISH TO LIVE BH THE OCEAN 1 Friday in Weekend) for inner, warmth in the cold times aheacL Ghostly happenings 'for Halloween. Gene Siskel on Johri Schlesinger's new film, "Yanks" (starring Richard Gere). All this and more is yours in Weekend. THE SAME 50RTOF THING SOMETIMES HELPS II I in i i i.in i Smile Overweight: The only problem that's worse-after it's settled. marican Legion Maguint.