Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 26 May 1922 — Page 1

1

THE ONLY DEMOCRATIC NEWSPAPER IN DELAWARE COUNTY THE MUNCIE POST - DEMOCRAT

VOL. 2. NUMBER 21

MUNCIE, INDIANA, FRIDAY, MAY 26 , 1922

SUBSCRIPTION PRICE $2.00 A YEAR IN ADVANCE

Convicts’ Weekly to Start About the First of July According to Late Report

The socalled democratic newspaper which is to be “launched” in the near future by Billy Finan, Obed Kilgore, Doc Bunch, and a few other Has beens who do not know the war is over, has postponed the date of its initial appcaranee. It was declared that the first issue would appear about the first of June, but, it is how stated that the baby is to be born the first of July, or probably later. It might be stated for the benefit of those who have not been informed, that the gang behind this movement is identically the same bunch who met one night in the Grand hotel, during the city campaign, and tried unsuccessfully to raise funds, for a similar purpose. Their opposition to the Post-Dem-ocrat at this time is not based upon any reflection on the democracy of this ' newspaper, but solely because we opposed the ejection of Rollin H„ Bunch as mayor last fall. There is not a real democrat in Delaware county who will come out in the open and charge the Post-Demo-crat of disloyalty to the party it espouses for any other reason, and we still maintain that in opposing the election of Doc Bunch,, and saving the democratic party from ignominy of electing a man who was so thoroughly exposed n the federal trials last December, we performed a service for the party which should bs> recognized and extolled by all loyal democrats. In less than three hours after Finan and his confederates had put over their resolution reading the Post-Democrat out of the party and endorsing another newspaper to be started in the future, Finan’s place on South Walnut Street was raided and its proprietors put under arrest after a large quantity of poisonous liquor had been found hidden 'n a hole in the wall. After securing a judge to try the case who had worked with Billy pinan and his gang in the recent pri-■m-ary-in behalf of flarry New, Van Ogle and the rest of the Billy William slate, the federal government stepped in to prevent any possible miscarriage of justice. Finan and his son were arrested by United States marshals and will be tried in federal court before Judge Anderson, June 16. The Post-Democrat does not fear newspaper opposition from such source. The real democrats of Muncie and Delaware county are warm supporters of the Post-Democrat and the hybrid sheet that is promised will be placed exactly where it belongs— the mouthpiece of law-breakers, some of whom have done time in the pen, and others who seem to be fairly itching to get in. Obed Kilgore, the misfit democratic county chairman, was the choice of a very small minority of the democrats of Delaware county. The candidates themselves are disgusted with the Kilgore organization and if they had been consulted he would never have been selected as county chairman. Practically every democratic candidate in the county has repudiated the movement to start a new paner. Nothing would please us better than to see this new paper started. We doubt whether the gang has nerve enough to attempt it, but if they do we ivill guarantee that the people of Delaware county will be enlightened plenty as to the personnel and the

motives of those who have taken over the contract of putting the Post-Dem-ocrat out of busipess.

A Do

I’ve never known a dog to wag His tail in glee he didn’t feel, Nor quit his old-time friend to tag At some more influential heel. The yellowest cur I ever knew' Was, to the boy who loved him, true. I’ve never known a dog to show Halfway devotion to his friend, To seek a kinder man to know, Or richer, but unto the end The humblest dog II ever knew Was, to the man that loved him, true. I’ve never known a dog to fake Affection for a present gain, A false display of love to make, Some little favor to attain, I’ve never known a Prince or Spot That seemed to be what he was not. But I’ve known a dog to fight With all strength to shield a friend, And. whether wrong or whether right, To stick with him until the end. And I have known a dog to Ik-k The hand of him that men would kick. And I have known a dog to bear Starvation’s pangs from day to day With him who had been glad to share His bread and meat along the way. No dog, however mean or rude, Is guilty of ingratitude. The dog is listed with the dumb. No voice has he to speak his creed, His messages to humans come By faithful conduct and by deed. He shows, as seldom mortals do, A high ideal of being true. —American Field.

APACHES CAUGHT IN LAIR

Paris—Mile. Margluerite Bertrand, a red-haired girl of 18 who left a homa of culture- to lead a hand of young Apaches, will pass several years in prison. Trailed to the Apache den, where she was known as “The Panther,” the girl fought desperately before she was subdued. According to the police Mile. Bertrand and her gang have committed more than 200 robberies and assaults.

LANDRU’S “VICTIM” ALIVE

Paris— French detectives are investigating the story of a woman who reported to the Algiers police that she was one of the supposed victims of “Bluebeard” Landru.

DEADLY OKOLEHAO

Honolulu—Physicians state that many of the mysterious deaths recently reported were caused by drinking okolehao, the native drink which has been adulterated since prohibition.

‘WILLIAM TELL” SLAYER

Zurich—Essaying to play the part of William Tell with his il-year-old son and a revolver, Erich Tolchen shot and killed the boy.

NEW HONOR FOR WOMAN London—Mrs. May Cane, designer of a labor-savingl type of bungalow, has been elected the first woman member of the concrete institute for architects.

| DOES NOT APPLY TO PHIL | When the new nolice force was organized, a little over 1 1 six months ago, Philip W. McAbee, president of the board of 1 | safety, and by virtue of his office, the head of the police | 1 department, delivered a lecture to the members of the force, 1 | in the course of which he outlined what he considered to be | | their line of duty. 1 Among other things Mr. McAbee impressed upon the 1 | members of the force that he, as president of the board of 1 | safety would not tolerate political activity on the part of 1 1 the members of the force. He told them, very impressively, that they should ab- | | stain from all political activity, and made it so strong that 1 | the men took it to mean that they might possibly be allowed 1 | to vote, but that in case they would lose their jobs. According to the rule laid down by McAbee he should be | | fired instantly from his job. The humblest patrolman on a 1 | beat has just as much right to dabble in politics as Mr. | | McAbee, who assumes to give orders which he expects to 1 | apply to somebody else, and not to himself. | The records show that Mr. McAbee took an extremely 1 | active part in the attempt to inflict the stupid New upon the 1 | citizenship of Indiana for another six year term. He was 1 | considered for a time for the position of New manager in 1 j the campaign, but according to the report of the New club 1 | treasurer he merely assumed the insignificant duty of rais- I | ing the slush fund and then having it reported as an indi- 1 | vidual contribution. McAbee ought to have the courage of his conversation, 1 | when he indicated that any one connected with the Muncio | | police should stay out of politics. If he fail to take himself 1 | at his word, the mayor might with considerable propriety 1 1 remove him for the violation of an order that he made him- 1 | self. ummniimimiiiiimiimiiimimiimiiiiimiiiiMmiimimiiiiiiiiimmtimiiiiiiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiimiiimmiimiiuiiimiiiiiimiiimiimimmiiiiiiiimimmiiiiimii

THE NEW JACK POT The report of the treasurer of the “New for Senator Club,” filed this week, as the law directs, in the office of the County derk, is a document which will certainly bear analysis. According to the report there were but three contributors to the Harry New slush fund. Twenty five dollars each were contributed by George Cromer and 0. W. Storer and Philip W. McAbee, president of the board of safety, is credited with contributing fifteen hundred dollars. If the report is to be credited as truthful, and it ought to be truthful since the corrupt practices act requires the statement to be made under oath, there were only three contributors to the New kettle, and of the total amount collected, $1,550, Philip McAbee gave all but a measly fifty dollars. And in this connection it might be stated that this is not the first instance of Mr. McAbee’s remarkable liberality during a political campaign. During the national campaign of 1920, Bill Hays inaugurated his famous “get the money, boys” drive. Evidently Mr. McAbee was one of the “boys”, for the report of the treasurer of the republican campaign committee in 1920 discloses the fact that twelve thousand dollars was spent in Delaware county in behalf of normalcy and that Mr. McAbee gave ten thousand of it. || It is apparent from the disclosure of these documents that Mr. McAbee is either ari awfully free spender in behalf of the grand old party, or that he merely acts as the agent, or, as the ribald have it, the goat, for others who are willing to contribute to a slush fund but are ashamed for the public to know it. There is nothing in the act requiring the publication of the names of contributors to campaign funds which authorizes any person to raise a political jackpot among his cronies and then give it in as a personal contributiqn. The law was passed in order that the public might know who contributes, and how much. If the ten thousand credited to McAbee in 1920 and the $1500 in the recent primary, were in reality sums raised by the “get the money boys” and placed in the hands of Mr. McAbee to be handed to the treasurer of the committees, the name of every donor should appear, together with the amount he gave. One can easily discern why contributors to the Harding fund in 1920 and the Harry New slush pot in 1922 would be heartily ashamed of it, but that does not lessen their culpability in evading the law., nor does it add to the fame and prestige of the one who makes it appear that it is his personal- contribution, in order to keep the real contributors out of the limelight. According to the report, Charles VanMatre, president of the New club, was paid for his services the sum of $240 and Senator James Monroe Fitch, treasurer, drew, down $277 for his efforts in behalf the stand pat candidate. Thus, it will be seen, a little over than a third of the entire amount collected from Cromer, Storer and McAbee went to the brigadier generals of the organization. The Beveridge organization, which whaled the daylights out of the New bunch in Delaware county, spent $325, and no part of this amount was paid to those who had charge of the campaign. The New workers who were compelled to work in the trenches without pay, because, as they were toM, there was no money, were naturally peeved when they learned that over one third c T the sum contributed by the magnanimous McAbee, had been held out by Fitch and v a iMatre. Mr. McAbee is the president of the ’ > t'd of safety. He is a man who “knows his stuff ”, to use a slang expression. Hq IAL f Vr?‘th'at~thc lawless elements of the citr-werq-lined up'nearly to a man for New and the Billy Williams slate. He, above all others, ought to know how difficult it has been for the police force to apprehend certain law violators who look for protection to the republican clique who are opposed to his chief, Mayor Quick. The mayor is known to be a proponent of progressive republicanism. He was an ardent supporter of Beveridge and is outspoken in his opposition to the bi-partisan machine to which Billy Williams belongs. Generally speaking the mayor of a city becomes the leader of his party and does not brook impudent defiance to his wishes on the part of subordinates. Mayor Quick has the best wishes of all right minded people in Muncie, both democrats and republicans, but they fear that his spirit ot tolerance to those of his own administration who openly defy his wishes and oppose his political ideas will wofully weaken his administration. The mayor of a city is rightfully the leader of the city and of the party that elected him, just the same as a governor leads his state or the president of the nation becomes its titular leader and the leader of his party. It has been demonstrated always that no man can retain leadership without using the big stick. There are a few appointees of the Quick administration who seem to feel bigger than the power that created them. Of course it is none of our business, being a democratic newspaper and the natural foe of republicanism, but we believe that the mayor would make the hit of his life by tying the can to the appointees who bite the hand that feeds them. Jfcl Jl ^

2 YOUTHFUL “NOBLEMEN” TRAPPED AS SWINDLERS

Geneva^—The Swiss police have been notified of the arrest at Brussels of two youthful swindlers who had long been sought. They posed as Count de Balessa and Baron Zumbacher. Boch the prisoners are about 19 and their youth aided them in their swindling} operations, no one suspecting the youths until they fled. They are said to have had many victims in Paris and Berlin also.

WAR OVER PRINCESS

Singapore—Traders returning from the Malay Archipelago report th it three tribes there have gone to war over a princess. She was betrothed to two chieftains and married a third.

i «

\ Speed Graveyard” at Annual ! 500-Mile Automobile Contest

I*

HOW TO PICK BEST WIFE Rome—An Italian scientists classifies women who make the best wives as follows: 1—The home girl; 2—the nurse; 3—the business girl; 4—the teacher; 5—the actress.

SAND BURIES TOWN St. Paul de Loanda—A largp pare of the port of Chinde, Portuguese East Africa, was buried by blasts of sand driven by a cyclone.

62 YEARS IN JAIL Rome—Antonio Marchi, who has spent 62 years in prison, must serve three years more for counterfeiting. He is 82 years old.

HER CIGARETTE BILL $360 Boston—A debt suit tried here brought out the fact that Mrs. Harriette Lennox owed $360 for cigarettes.

PRINCE WORN OUT London—The Duke of York, despite his youthful strength, has been completely worn out by his social duties He has had to attend all the important functions owing to the absence of the Prince of Wales, his brother.

NEWS OF THE FINANCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL WORLD

TNDIANAPOLIS, IND.—Pour “derelicts” abandoned in the “speed graveyard” J. during a 500-mile race. Like the ocean greyhounds that pile up on the submerged rocks the four race cars have wrecked the hopes of their pilots to gain the lion’s share of $100,000 and th«! glory that goes with an international championship. A few hours before a group of skilled mechanics were busy petting and pampering the “mechanical ships,” but now they stand deserted and unwatched, while other racing cars are still thundering around the big brick oval. In the group is more than $50,000 worth of machinery, on which months of labor had been expended, to seek new records and for the entertainment of a crowd of more than 100,000 speed fans. On Tuesday, May 30, in the tenth annual 500-mile race there will be another impromptu graveyard.

virtuous fox trot a sort of hygienic promenade and thoroughly athletic”.

ROAD LIGHTHOUSES

“SHIMMY” DEFENDED AS “HYGIENIC PROMENADE” Paris—While French dancing) mas-

ters are assailing the American brand

of danres as “lewd and vicious,” Mine. London—The Ministry of Transport Augustin Lefort, whose husband di- 1 has decided to adopt the American rected the French Dancing Academy, system of indicating dangerous curves has come to the defense of the “shim- to motorists at nigiht with tall signmy”. She characterizes this as “a I posts which flash every two seconds.

Steel merger prospects continue to be the predominant element of market interest. Sharp advances in vaI'ious issues have followed upon announcements relating to the plans and prospects of combination. As often before stated, the question how far such mergers will result in a real basis for advance of prices depends largely upon the result of the agreements in cheapening costs of production or controlling prices themselves. It was probably a recognition of the latter fact that has led to the Congressional agitation of the subject, followed by adoption of a resolution calling for an inquiry. Advance in Business A better basis for confidence in steel shares than is afforded by the merger reports is seen in the increasingly encouraging} reports from steel mills showing larger ingot production and new booking,js. Better demand for copper and improved outlook in that industry generally are reflected in the resumption of dividends by one or two concerns, but are also seen in the lessening of surplus stocks and extension of operations. As a result, merger rumors are afloat in the copper market, just as in the steel market. In other branches of business there are soine indications of the same tendency, although it is less pronounced. It is dpe essentially to the belief in prospects for better business and to the idea that more effective capitalistic organization can succeed in taking} advantage of this outlook. In the railroad field, the resumption of consolidation reports 1 , based upon* discussions before , the Interstate Commerce Commission, represents a parallel situation. Meantime, the President’s conference with railroad executives, set for the evening of the 20th, is looked forward to as possibly a turning point in the development of railroad share values. Disappointment at Genoa* The closing sessions of the Genoa Conference have turned out to be even less encouraging than had been expected some time ag.o, and the chief reliance for greater success in the meetings at The Hague is now evidently upon action on the part of the United States, which, however, seems to be as remote as ever. Unofficial reports that the Hi LijknaWmi. conference is deferred or that the United States will not particinate in it are apparently the result of indisposition in this country to map out as yet a definite programme for the extension of economic aid to European countries. Secretary Hoover’s programme stated in his address before the Chamber of Commerce convention at Washington during the j past week calls for the familiar restoration of d’bund political conditions and equalization of foreign budgets so often insisted upon, but adds the new item cf a gold standard for Europe with gpld loans or credits by the United States, although there is no definite plan for securing the latter. Progress at all events is being made in settling the general elements of the problem offered by European conditions at the pressnt time, and in mapping out at least a tentative plan for dealing with them. Improvement in Crop Outlook Government crop reports are increasingly favorable as regards almost all classes of products, and a substantial yield is now forecast in most lines. The effect of this good outlook, coupled with the more liberal attitude on the part of the banks, is already seen in the improvement of retail and other trade conditions at principal business centers in the West, while the restoration of more satisfactory prices for all classes of farm products, practically without exception, has proceeded rapidly. For eign reports have lately pointed to an unexpected improvement in demand for our cotton and wheat, and a good many bank credits covering the exportation of these items are being negotiated. Country banks are very steadily liquidating their obligations to the Federal Reserve system, and have rapidly cut down their borrowings from city banks, the latter being largely free of rediscount obligations some months ago. All this accounts for the unusual abundance of funds and ease of money which have been prevalent in the market for some time past, and are quite as obvious today, even with the season well advanced, as they have been at any previous time. Important Supreme Court Decisions Important decisions have been handed down by the Supreme Court during the past week, as affecting’ the child labor law and the grain futures law. The same principle is involved in each, but its application in connection with grain futures is more interesting to the fiancial, just as the companion decision is more interesting to the industrial, elements in the community. The Court holds in both cases that Congress is exceeding its powers when it undertakes indirectly to regt/ulate the acts of a citizen in transacions which are obviously intrastate in character. A similar test was applied in the recent stockyards and packers’ decision, where it was held that no matter how desirable and beneficial a given legislative proposal might be, the decision regarding it was to be based, not upon the question whether it was, after all, a constitutional exercise of the power of Congress. In the stock yards case, the exercise of the power of control was upheld because of the fact that the packing houses were held to be essentially channels of interstate trade. Future trading} or the personnel conditions in factories are held in

like manner not to be included within the power of Congress in such a connection. This series of decisions is not only important in its bearing upon trading at the present time, but also fundamentally significant from the broader economic standpoint. Market Review and Outlook The ease with which prices have responded to moderate buying during the past few days shows that there is little danger of more than temporary setbacks taking) place. Steel merger prospects have, of course, been a predominant factor in the making of prices, but the market is not receiving its present impetus simply because several of the steel companies are to become members of one family. Ic is rather influenced by the idea that there are to be a number of important railroad and industrial consolidations in the future. Consolidation talk has always been a potent factor in putting prices up, and is no less so at the present time, but, after all, the market’s mainstayi is the trade expansion, now so much in evidence, and easy money which can be counted on for a long time to come. To be sure, some stocks may be advancing more rapidly than warranted at the present time, but, taken as a whole, the market is acting in an orderly manner, with an absence of the excessive speculation, which was such a pronounced feature last month.

Value Farm Animals Show Falling Off

There was a falling off in the value of animals raised on farms of the United States during the three calender years of 1920,1921 1922. In 1919 the total value was $4,145,600,000, in 1920 it dropped to $2,998,500,000 and in 1921 to 1,937,000,000. These are fig- ' ! ures secured by the Ohio Division of Markets, through the United States' Department of Agriculture. Like all things there was a cause for this decline and it is not difficult ■ttr-firffi. It"cvas caused;’ fioffi . 1920 chiefly by the decreased number of beef cattle, hog)s and sheep and lambs raised for slaughter. Th main factor of this decrease was th high cost of feed. The decline from 1920 to 1921, however, was due almost entirely to the lower live stock pri es together with the lower prices for farm animals. Calf slaughter for veal remained high throughout the three years, ami the replenishment of milk cows continued. Veal was the only meat the production of which seems not to have been uneconomic in 1919 and 1920. Production of sheep was handicapped by a low wool market. The value of beef cattle raised on farms fell from $966,800,000 in 1919 to $596,400,000 in 1920 and to $389,000,000' in 1921. Sheep and lambs declined from $134,200,000 in 1919 to $82,200,000 in 1 1920 and to $46,600,000 in 1921. Swir | droped from $2,218,800,000 in 1919 to $1,522,600,000 in 1920 and to $953,500, ! 000 in 1921. The value of horses j raised on farms fell from $145,700,000 i in 1919 to $104,700,000 in 1921; of mules from $60,000,000 in 1919 to $43,400,000 1 in 1921. The value of meat animals was $1,788,400,000 in 1921 and the value of animals raised for the purpose of providing power was $148,600,000.

Gas-Tar Protecte Concrete Against Alkaline Waters

In its search for a means of protecting Portland cement concrete against the action of alkaline waters, th( Bureau of Public Roads, United States Department of Agriculture, treatment with a very fluid crude water-gas tar, such as may be obtained as a by-product from many ar-ar-igicial gas plants. So successful have the tests been that further investigations of the alkali-desisting properties of tar-treated concrete and mortar are under way and the protective effect of water gas tai on mass concrete structures is being studied. The treatment consists of simplj immersing the concrete in the liquid which is soaked up, even by a dense concrete. Cement drain tile treatei in this way and stored from six tc eight months of a strong elkali solution have shown no indications of disintegration and loss of strength. In certain parts of the country where alkali salts exist concrete drair tile and concrete structures have beer attacked. In many such places concrete is a very desirable materia 1 on account of the accessibilitv of th< materials that go into it. The bm reau’s investigations aim to devisf concrete with assurance.

SIXTY-YEAR SAYHNGS STOLEN

Helena, Mont.—Mr. and Mrs. Edward Penfit distrusted banks ’and kept the savings of their sixty years of married life, about $3,000, in a steel box. It was stolen while they were visiting neighbors.