Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 11 December 1931 — Page 2
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1931.
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THE POST-DEMOCRAT Democratic weekly newspaper representing the Democrats of Muncie, Delaware County and the 8th Congressional District. The only Democratic Newspaper in Delaware County.
Entered as secopd class matter January 15, 1921, at the Postoffice at Muncie, Indiana, under the Act of March 3, 1979.
PRICE 5 CENTS—$2.00 A YEAR
223 North Elm Street—Telephone 2540 CHARLES H. DALE, Publisher Geo, R. Dale, Editor
Muncie, Indiana, Friday, December 11, 1931
ties and poles that were donated by the traction company, | Home Journal of the so-callecl “Muncie Plan,” writand the telephone company, the superintendent of parks, j £ en somebody named Hawkins. I didn’t notice
whether it was George, or not. ' ^ George Hawkins hardly wrote that Ladies Home Journal gag, though. He may done many things that were outside of the law, but he would
certainly not be guilty of that.
The story goes on to say that “Muncie, Indiana is an average American city. It had its share of unemployment, that is, it had plenty men out of work before last spring. However things have changed
Thinkers And Un-Thinkers. One thing this depression and period of unemployment should do is to put men and women to thinking. But just how many will take advantage of this period of enforced idleness to do a little real thinking is a problem that is hard to solve. \ A good many people, especially among the workers are like an old horse. Give them a few good meals and take the wrinkles out of their belly and they forget they were ever hungry, and are willing to again get into the harness, and work until the next period on enforced idleness comes along, then they will pretend they are thinking. But are they? We for one, do not think so. Again if they are given a few good meals and a few gallons of gas for their Lizzy, they again become the happy-go-lucky unthinking being they were before Eve ate the apple. Speaking of apples, puts us in mind of the many bushels of that healthy fruit that rotted on trees and in tho ground} while millions of human beings are on the verge of starvation. Still we claim we are thinkers. What a joke! The only thing that really count in this life, is bread, butter, bacon and bea s, along with a few other things that nature provides for the benefit of mankind. Still only a few can enjoy what nature ^as provided for the use of all. We the thinkers have devised ways and means whereby we have gotten control of all things that nature provides, and thus hfme our hands on the throats of the unthinkers, and can force them to do our bidding just as long as they are willing to let us do their thinking. But if the great mass of unthmkers ever get it through their heads to do their own thinking, life will not be a bed of roses Tor us hard work ng thihkers as it has been m the past. But let us hope that these periods of depression and enforced idleness will not cause the ticket men to figure out why us thinkers emet them from their homes for non-pay-ment of rent, and why they must work wherever we send them for the privilege of eating three of four scanty.meals
a week.
Every person who is able should earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, but us thinkers have gone that saying one better. We i.ay that the un-thinkers shall not on’.y earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, but they shall also earn our bread witn the same sweat. Not only bread shall also earn us all the other necessaries and luxuries that this world contains for thb.^e wfi^ think.
Mayor’s Relief Fund'
The mayor’s relief fund was augmented this week by contributions amounting to over three hundred dollars in cash by fire, police and park departments and clothing, shoes 'and bedding have come in from all sources. Mrs. Dale, in charge of the relief committee w'ork has specialized in endeavoring to locate needy families whose bread winners are out of work and are starving in silence rather than apply for help. Many of this type have been found. One anoymous •writer described a family suffering for the bare necessities of life that had never asked for assistance. A visit to this home w-as made. The family was huddled in one room of the house in which they lived, evidently with the idea of conserving heat. Ask if they needed help the woman replied that they were getting along all right and absolutely declined assistance, although the’ evidence was all to the contrary. The next day the husband, a fine, upstanding young fellow admitted that they were in distress, but refused to accept help unless it was to be considered in the nature of a loan, to be repaid by him into the mayor’s relief fund when he.secured employment. With this understanding coal and provisions were supplied. Many other cases of a somewhat similar type have Been encountered and help was forthcoming. The five unsightly buildings on West Jackson street that were forced on the park department through a rather questionable sale made to the city during the former administration have also been converted into an asset in the way of affording a temporary palce of abode for unfortunate families evicted from their homes. These houses are being rendered habitable through the kindness and charity of individuals and business establishments and the work of establishing homeless families in the five houses has been jointly undertaken by Mrs. Dale and Mrs. A. L. Kitselman, whose charities are as the sands of the sea. In one of these houses a family consists of the father and mother and eight children, ranging in ages from five weeks to seventeen years. Needed furnishings were supplied and .shoes, clothing and food have been added to their comforts. The other houses have been practically filled and repairs are being made that will Tdd to the sanitation of the premises and to the health and comfort of the occupants. There seems to be in Muncie right now a mighty fine spirit of helpfulness and all agencies of relief are extending themselves to provide for the needs of the helpless. The mayor’s relief fund committee will be glad to accept 'Contributions in the way of money, food, clothing, shoes, etc., and will assure the donors everything will go directly to the needy, without one cent of overhead expense. Your contributions may be sent direct to the mayor or to any department of the city, including the five fire sta-
tions.
At the sergeant’s desk, in police headquarters, the boys have set up a small tin box, with a padlock on it the size of your fist. That would be a fine receptacle for your loose change. Drop in and fil 1 it up. We hope this experiment will be tried by others. If you wavd one of these tin boxes, padlock and all, call 9060 and ask for Joe Herdering and he will fit you out. Lei’s meke this mayor’s relief fund a whiz.
Just There and Somewhere By W, J. D. While the five-hour da> that the Street Department is now working may cause some people to kick about the service they are getting on garbage and trash hauling, because of lack of funds, it is doing a lot of good for the unemploy ed of our city. This five hour a day stunt gives the department a chance to deliver the wood to those who have it coming to them. The men of the department donate their time m the afternoon in hauling the wood of which they have delivered about 700 cords. After we had sawed and delivered tfie
gathered about him some men and down came quite a number of trees that were sawed into stove lengths, and delivered to homes where wood-sheds were swept as clean as the
cupboard of old Mother Hubbard.
No doubt some of the citizens will think that the trucks should be hauling ashes and garbage instead of wood, but the men. who drive the trucks refuse to donate their time for that purpose, when they know that there is plenty of “mazuma” in the city treasury to pay them, but which unattainable because of the refusal of the council to appropriate
funds.
Trucks standing in the barn do no one any good, but if they are working they do some one good if it is only hauling wood. The wood keeps kiddies warm, and save the charity associations and trustee from sending coal which must be paid for either by contributions of taxation and the drivers get paid for delivering it which the city truck drivers^") not. Which method is the cheapest for the taxpayers? Talking of taxation, makes us think of what the taxpayers vrill have to put up with next year if they keep on cutting down the budget of the street department. The work of that department keeps growing bigger and bigger every, but like the streets of our city, the city grows, but the streets do not, and with the ever-increasing traffic it is getting more dangerous every year for the traveling public, especially when auto drivers persist in parking double
and on both sides of fire^anes.
We admit that parking space is hard to find, still we have noted that some lots that are now opened for parking at a low cost, are never filled with autos. It seems that the drivers of machines would sooner park on fire lanes and in other restricted districts, thus endangering lives and property than let loose of a few pennies knowing that their cars are safe and so also lives and property of other people. What a thoughtless race of animals we are becoming. All for ourselves, and may the devil take the other fellow. Well we see that the man who fed the world but cannot feed his own people, has advocated an increase in income tax. No one likes to pay taxes of any kind, but it seems that those who make enough money each year to pay income tax kick the hardest about handing over to the government a small portion of what they have earned the year
before.
Some Farm Board Salaries Whether or not the federal farm board has been a good thing for the farmers of the country may be a debatable question. But as to whether it has been a good thing for the officers and employes there can be no debate. For instance, here are some of the facts and figures brought out bv the senate investigation. The president of the Cotton Stabilization emonuttee gets $75,000 a year. _ o The vice-president gets $35,000 a year. The president of the Cotton Stabilization committee gets $50,000 a yeav. The yice-prbsidenb h ^of that committee gets $32,000 a
year.
Another vice-president of the committee gets $25,000
a year.
The treasurer of the committee gets $30,000 a year. One New York brokerage firm got $450,000 for commis-
sions from the company.
It was testified that the average cotton farmer make:$300 a year, and that the average salary paid the 9o persons connected with the cotton and grain stabilization commit-
tees was more than $8,000 a year.
The treasurer of the United States gets only $1~ 1 ,000 a year. The only official of the government where congress fixes the salaries, who gets more than $20,000 a year is President Hoover whose salary is $75,000 annually. Boards and commissions always pay larger salaries anti larger fees than do officers whose salaries are regulated by congress. Congress could do no better job than to abolish about forty of these expensive and harmful commissions.
The Grist Mill Returns
Greenville, Ohio, Advocate
The old-time grist mill seems to be returning to the American landscape once more. . An eastern newspaper revealed the other day that m many places, especially in the south and southwest, faimeis are adopting their grandfathers’ custom of taking their grain to a little neighborhood mill, getting it ground into flour or meal, and returning it to the family cupboard. It is a long time since the grist mill has cut much of a figure in American life. In the old days, oi course, it had a big place. It was the center of innumerable frontier com munities, and the bread that the farmer ate was made from
grain he raised.
Lately, though, the grist mill had become a picturesque ruin. Almost every small town in the south and middle west had as its memento of bygone days a tumble-down structure, rapidly falling into decay, by some ancient millpond on the edge of town. The railroad and the flour mill pushed the grist mill almost entirely out of the picture. If it is coming back now, even in a small measure, it is probably due to the depression; but in a lot of ways it is an
extremely sensible step for the farmer to take.
The average wheat grower never so much as sees £ 'flour mill. He sends his grain to the market and buys hk flour at the nearest grocery store; and when wheat price:are down—as they are, most of the time—he suffers. Suppose, though, that there is a gristmill in the neighborhood. The farmer, then, not only is producing a commodity for the market; he is raising the very grain that he and his family, eat, and they will have plenty of bread even
if the bottom falls out of the wheat market.
Perhaps, in a time when agricultural distress seems deeply rooted and of endless extent, the country could use the old-fashioned grist mill to a pretty good advantage.
CHRISTMAS 1
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The Japanese were pressing on toward Chinchow. But Ji they ever get into chow chow they’ll be in a pretty piccalilli.
An ex-broker was tried as a leader of an arson gang. With business at low ebb he probably was just trying to fire things with enthusiasm.
MAYOR’S CORNER
(Continued from Page One) of them and know how to run down news myself. When the Press staff attempted to create tiie impression that everybody was bombarding the secretary with telegrams they might of known that I would run down the fake and expose it. I suppose most of you saw in the MuiiLie Star this morning about the big write-up in the LadieS
in Muncie. Changed for the better. Why? The
answer is “The Muncie Plan.”
The comment is quoted in the Star that national news of Muncie in the past has put the city in an unfavorable light but that the Ladies Home Journal
story is favorable publicity.
I have been told that this man Hawkins, who wrote the story, came here to get the dope. It is assumed, from the Pollyanna trend of his story, that he sat in Chamber of Commerce quarters, where an atmosphere of prosperity abounds, when he
wrote it.
If he wanted to get an honest story of the condition of the unemployed he should have hung around the social service headquarters, the township trustee’s office, or visited the basement of the city hall, where a hundred or more homeless mem sleep every night. Instead of being a help to Muncie, I would say that the wide publication of the Hawkins story will do untold harm. The papers over the country have been filled with hot air about the Muncie Plan and | a large percentage of those who seek shelter in the, basment of the city hall at night have read in dis- j tant cities about the Muncie Plan and are led there-1 by to believe that this js the one city on the entire continent t 1 ' it has found a method to whip the panic. | I (.on t like to knock anybody else’s game, but I believe in facing facts and condor compels me to predict that the Ladies Home Journal stories and other misleading articles published over the country will add greatly to the influx of the unemployed who. will come here expecting to find jobs that are absolutely not to be had. We have thousands in Muncie who are out of work so why invite the whole world to compete with hom%workmen? The deceived workmen who come here cxp^|^uu,lelegation to i^eet^lfem^nd escort them to joolPmve to be fed and oai'ed’fer whilb Here and our first obligation is to the Muncie unemployed. I want to call your attention to the fact that beginning with this week I am giving more attention to the contents of the Post-Democrat than I have for some months previous. Buy a Post-Democrat of one of the news boys Saturday. You may find some tinge of interest there. Among other things will be disclosed an underworld conspiracy to involve myself and others of the administration in alleged federal crimes. Those involved in this conspiracy are gamblers and bootleggers driven out of business by my police. Money has been paid for perjured statements. Back of these perjured outlaws, is a small group of individuals who seek a return of the good old times when the payoff kept the wolf from the door and when Santa Claus shook the tree- for the gangsters 365 days of the year.
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