Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 3 June 1932 — Page 2

Friday, June 3,1932.

i THE POST-DEMOCRAT A Democratic weekly newspaper representing the Democrats Muucie, Delaware County and the 8th Congressional District. The only Democratic Hewfepaper in Delaware County.

Entered as second class matter January 15, 1921, at the Postoffice at Muucie, Indiana, under the Act of March S, 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, June 3, 1932.

The Democratic National Convention of 1932 BY RALPH L. WILLIAMS Since th6 first national convention called by the AntiMasonic party at Baltimore in 1831, it has been the custom to make all presideritial nominations at national conventions. The year of 1932 seems to bring a new ray of hope to the . Democratic sun, for not since the convention of 1916 has the possibility of nominating and selecting a strong combination occurred. Only two shadows seem to face the party of democracy. Should the factional spirit become so warm that a split in the party would occur the following year, it might mean the death of the party; at the least it would scatter the high hopes of a Democratic president in 1933. It seems like an irony of fate, to this writer, that politics can not be conducted like an athletic contest. That the loser congratulate the winner ahd then support him, thereafter. However, national figures who seemingly have good sense otherwise never stop " to consider that the party overshadows the person. The other catastrophe that might happen is a split over the issues. Ih this, Republican strategists might play an im- * portant part. Our two-thirds majority vote seems to have it usual ", good and bad points, but it is sincerely hoped that it will bring a brace of strong, unquestioned leaders. The first / move in this direction was made by Roosevelt who hopes to secure Jack Garner as a running mate. A1 Smith, the 1928 nominee, has said nothing about this, and if the move is negotiated it would doubtlessly put the former leader very *'~-much in the background. However, his followers will play ^an important role in the convention picture and will be very ^much in evidence with their fight in former conventions, k" Among the prominent “dark horses” are Governor Murr,ray, of Oklahoma, of Jacksonian democracy fame; Governor Ritchie, Maryland’s favorite son; Governor White, of Ohio; —Senator J. Hamilton Lewis, and Senator Reed. It is true that the Democrats boast of some of the best presidential timber in years and a person would have a difficult choice on hand if he choose to prefer anyone of them, as yet. Therefore, in order to promote party harmony, why not be satisfied with the choice of the delegates at the convention in Chicago, June 10? Then, a unified Democratic party!

The Small Town’s Defense Against Fire A schedule showing the yearly sales since 1924 of one of our largest manufacturers of high grade, standard fire apparatus is of general interest. In 1931, 19.5 per cent of apparatus was sold in cities of more than 500,000 and 49 per cent in towns of less than 10,000. Over an eight-year period, these smaller towns bought an annual average of 54.9 per cent of the apparatus sold. The most apparent deduction to be drawn from this is that the small towns of the country are so great in number that collectively they buy the larger amount of fire apparatus. But, actually, their protection against fire is very limited, as most small town and rural residents know. Not until every village, town and small city has access to a first-class, modernly equipped fire department, will fire protection become a reality. When fire prevention fails—the fire department steps in. If it is an inefficient, ill-equipped department, fire may destroy an entire town. If it is well equipped and well trained, damaged may be negligible. Good, standard fire apparatus is the cheapest thing the community can buy.

Rural Fire Protection Essential A recent press despatch from Rensselaerville, New York, recounts thfe loss of a hundred-year-old home which, with its treasured furhishihgs, was destroyed by fire. It happens that the loss of irreplacable articles was unusually heavy in this case. Similar fires occur almost daily in rural sections of the'country, and in addition to the property, many lives are lost. Such catastrophes are becoming daily more inexcusable. They happen because of lack of fire prevention by the owners of the property and because of lack of fire protection measures by the community. Good roads radiate in every direction from most of our small towns and rural areas today. Each year farm' fires claim a toll of 3,500 lives and cause $100,000,000 property damage. Motorized, standard fire apparatus, rural telephones anc good roads have helped pave the way for better rural fire departments. The attitude towaPd a farm fire used to be one of fatalism. It was looked upon as one of those things which just happen, and about which nothing much could be done. But today this viewpoirit is changing. Small communities and districts are joining together &nd installing at a central point modern fire apparatus that can quickly cover a wide territory. This, coupled with the telephone and good roads, is curbing the fire menace in small towns and on the farm.

be symptoms of a disturbed mental state, asserts Dr. H. J. Stack of the National Bureau of Casualty and Surety Underwriters, who says: “Extreme hurry or worry causing intense preoccupation, fatigue, elation, or excitement, or slowed down reaction as a result of the indulgence in alcohol or other narcotics may be behind an accident. Many of these mental conditions arp within our control.” He suggests the following precautions as preventatives: 1. Take a short rest or let someone else drive the car when you have been driving for a long period at night. 2. Be especially alert when hurrying to work so that you can keep your mind on your driving. 3. The best place for the confirmed back-seat driver is at home. 4. Don’t day dream driving a car or crossing the street. 5. Control your temper. If the traffic officer calls you down, probably you deserve it. • 6. If you have a superiority complex, forget it when you get behind,the steering wheel. 7. Don’t bcome a speed maniac. This mental disorder is serious and contagious. A serious accident seems to be the only cure for its victims.

Is Property Confiscation Approaching? Throughout the land there is growing talk of “tax strikes.” Many property owners are simply unable to pay the exorbitant levies demanded. We are gradually approaching a time when it will be cheaper to tear down many buildings, thus creating unimprovproperties, or allow the property to be taken over by the state, than to pay taxes. Is it any wonder that the best minds of the country are regarding the tax problem as the most serious, mo -t farreaching and most menacing issue fhe people now face?

Insurance Against Fire Disaster The community which provides itself with cheap or inadequate fire equipment, from a mistaken idea of economy, is courting disaster. It used to be a common practice for small towns to buy a second-hand truck, put pumps and other paraphernalia on it, and thus create a “fire engine.” This type of engine looks good in its red paint until a fire starts. Then it probably fails to work at all, or works inefficiently. First-class, standard fire fighting equipment is as necessary to a town as a good water supply. The money is ujsts is often returned over and over again to the community, by extinguishing a single fire which would otherwise have gotten beyond control. An appreciable share of our half-billitm-dollar annual fire loss is undoubtedly due to a lack of dependable apparatus when it is needed.

Vacation Coming “In spite of the beneficial effect of the remedial measures already taken, and the gradual improvement in fundamental conditions, fear and alarm prevail in the country because of events in Washington which have greatly disturbed the public mind,” says President Hoover.—Los Angeles Times. “Overworked Congressmen should cheer up. Many of them will be granted two-year vocations by the voters next November.”—Portland, Oregon, News-Telegram.

STATISTICS AND FACTS ON LOSS OF LIFE, LIMG, IN AUTO ACCIDENTS Prepared by The Travelers Insurance Co., Hartford, Conn.

HOW SOON CAN YOU STOP CAB?

Some Drivers React in Less Than Half a Second. MUCH DEPENDS ON MENTALITY

SPEED TRANSLATED INTO STOPPING DISTANCES

Living Beyond Our Means The United States is afflfcted with more than 500,000 tax-spending bodies. A single county in Illinois has exactly 419 governhlental taxing organizations. Many other counties, in many states, show a similar condition. It is no wonder that the American taxpayer is being driven to distraction. At a time when incomes have fallen and when many millions of men are unemployed, the politicians demahd more and more revenue. Increasing taxation menaces America’s future. Many years ago Michael Faraday, the great inventor, was showing a stateman the latest creation of his genius, the dynamo. The man of politics, who was not greatly impressed, remarked, “But what is it good for?” Faraday replied, “Well, you might tax it.”

Worry—The Driver’s Bane r ital lapses are a far more important cause of automoa yid'-'uts than is commonly believed. While the reports r dd '‘d may give physical causes, such as reckless drivvronv z.Ci of the road, cutting in, etc., those may only

Table Giving Certain Rates Are Translated Into Heights. The (Usances required to stop a car under the best of circustances at various speeds are shown. In the illustration above, the dotted line denotes the distance which the car would travel on the average at the designated speeds before the driver would be able to apply his brakes. The stopping distances illustrated here pertain to four-wheel

brakes.

Some drivers may be able to srtop their cars at the speeds mentioned In shorter distances than indicated. While it may be thought that the ability to react quickly to an emergency might epend upon whether the operator was above or below average intelligence, one study of a large number of drivers disclosed that the operator with the quickest

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counterparts in heights from which objects must fall to attain the same rates of speed, in the table below certain rates are translated into heights in order to illustrte the po tential destructive force of various

“miles per hour.”

M.P.H. 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 *

F.P.S. 29 37 44 51 59 66 73 81 88

Height (ft)

13.1 21.3 30.1 40.4 54.1 67.6 82.7

101.9 120.2

Anotfier Bankrupt' Institution'

MRS. MALINDA SLIPOVER, |42nd Street and Bethel Pike. “It j looks to me as though the fellow who wears suspenders and a belt, must be an optimist. However, I sometimes think it would please me more if my husband wore both instead of going around holding his trousers up with his bandsSometimes I am afraid his hand will slip and I’d hate to think of what might happen.”

MRS. NORA SHAUGHNESSY, Jackson and 72nd Street. “Wehl, sumtoimes Oi wunder whin Oi see sum of the big stumicks on the min, how tha kape thur pants up wid a belt, and whin tha are are all dressed up in thur Sunday close, and thur belts tightened Up, and thur stumicks stickin out over the belt, Oi thinks to meself, tha nades an operation or sumth’in. But Oi guess it’s the style so Oi kapes me mouth shut while tha strolls along think’in tha are the whole wurks. In case loike this jOi think most iv thim wuld look bethel in a Muthef Hubberd, thin they do wid pants an a belt. On believe it wuld bet bettor if tha wuld wear corsets, but maybe the corsets wuld put the hump in tha back, instead iv tha front, and it moight make things look wurse.”

WASHINGTON CuLD HAVE BEEN A KING

Was Asked to Assume Royal Power and Rule As King

INCIDENT ONE OF CRITICAL MOMENTS

Pointed Paragraphs. Manilla has an average temperature variation of only five degrees between summer and winter. 'Fish is an important item in the livelihood of the work classes along

the Spanish coast.

Anyway, Europes’ open attack on the dollar won’t cost as much as her former secret designs on it. There’s a bright side. Among the things that aren’t going back up since they fell are billboards. Capone’s great mistake was in

Temptation of Kingship Was No Temptation At All

not being Snicklefritzheimer or

reaction time was ot low mentality.]something equally hard to fit into

Since rates of speed have their a headline.

Walking against traffic, left, is a good safety rule to sdopt. However, a pedestrian on the highway should never let two cars come abreast of him.

Few Americans know that our country today might be A monarchy but for an act of nobility performed by George Washington on May 22, 1782. The ofifcere of the Revolutionary Army bad implored Washington to asume royal power, place himself at their head, and rule the country as a king. On May 22, a century and a half ago, General Washington refused this invitation in patriotic terms so strong that the idea was dropped. This information comes from the United States George Washington Bicentennial Commission. We know that he refused the offer of kingship, but the circumstances surrounding that dramatic moment in our history, known chiefly to scholars, need be recalled to the everyday American, that he may form a still clearer conception of the nobility of Washington’s character. Determined to Hold Army This/ incident, which constitutes one of the criticaF moments in th<? destiny of America, ocurred while General Washington and the Continental Army were encamped at Newburgh, on the Hudson. The surrender of Cornwallis had virtually ended the - Revolution, but nominally hostilities were still in effect, and Washington was determined to hold the army together against any surprise renewal of the war. As usual his soldiiers were poorly clothed and fed, and Congress was deeply in arrears in their pay. By then the war had dragged on for seven long years. The struggle had cost many of Washington’s officers the loss of their personal fortunes, and the entire enlisted force faced a future of want on being released to civil

life.

Discontent rose to dangerous intensity in all ranks. At lengtn, Colonel Lewis Nicola, a respected character on friendly terms with the Commander in Chief, spoke for the officers as a body when he addressed to Washington a veiled proposal that he take over the government of the country, with the army behind him, and rule it as a king. Tempted as Caesar The late Senator Cabot Lodge, in his biography of Washington, state.s that on this ocasion Washington was as truly tempted as' Caesar, with an offer to make himself king or emperor. The stroke, moreover, would have been easy .of accomplishment. The colonies were all beggared by the war. Their governments were slack and weak. The Revolutionary army was the one cohesive, national power in the land. To a man the soldiers worshipped Washington, and with their aid he could have taken over control of the nation. As near as that, at this stage of , America’s history, was the country - to become a monarchy. And yet it was a great distance away. To George Washington the temptation of kingship was no temptation at all. On the contrary he put it aside with far greater and more sincere indignation than did Caesar wave aside J:he laurel crown. In a letter whose every word should be implanted in the mind of every school child in America, be declined Nicola’s of-

fer and rebuked the man who made it. Writing on May 22 1782, he said: Makes Stern Rebuke “Sir,—With a mixture of great surprise and astonishment, I have read with attention the sentiments you have submitted to my perusal. Be assured, Sir, no occurrence in the course of the war has given me more painful sensations, than your information of there being such ideas existing in the army, as you have expressed, and I must view with abhorrence and reprehend with severity . . . “I am at a loss to conceive what part of my conduct could have given encouragement to an address which to me seems big with the greatest mischiefs that can befall my Country. If I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable. . . Let me conjure you, then, if you have any regard for your Country, concern for yourself or posterity, or respect for me,

to banish these thoughts from your mind, and never communicate, as from yourself or any one else, a sentiment of the like nature.” Imitation is one of the strongest 0

Voice of the Kitty

“What do You Think of a Man Who Wears Suspenders and a Belt?” HIRAM FUNK Dewberry 'Avenue and 2nd street. “Well, it looks to me as if he. was afraid of losing something. If he had the old fashioned back straps on his pants lje wouldn’t need either a belt or suspenders. It used to he when I was a boy, we didn’t have, either and sometimes we used thorns, or maybe a piece of rope, and ai that we never heard of a fellow losing his pants, or being arrested because he couldn’t keep them up.”

MR. ADAM NUSANS, Ethel and Godman Avenue. “Some fellows wear suspenders because they think it makes them look niceFellows of this kind are always a little off in the upper story and if you were to cut their suspenders they would go straight up. Some suspenders have been worn so much they are overweight with grease, and can be sold to some of the boarding houses where they use them for making soup. However, when, the big department stores put on a “fire, sale” on soup, they are not much in demand. Personally I would rather see a man wear a belt, but a good many of them are so straight up and down they have to have suspenders to hold' the belt up.”

MISS BENNY HUGG, 1991 Green Street. “I never like to see a man wearing suspenders, they always look to me, like the last rose of summer badly wilted. Besides, when your fellow comes to see you, and you are snuggled up up close, one always seems to get one’s hair caught in .the buckles, and sometimes your nose is scratched until you want to scream. Give me the man with the belt all the time. Besides a belt is so much more handy for a man than suspenders.” — o : Your eyes see nothing when your mind is asleep.

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There are two ways to balance a thing: (a) Add to one side, or (b) deduct from the other. But try to tell that to a budget expert. 1 n 11 ,l1 " "inr ’•jmmmmmtomiimtm

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From your Electrical

Dealer

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GONE are the days when brides S' received what-nots and whatziz for wedding gifts. This wiser, modern generation knows that real sentiment and thoughtfulness lie in a gift that is practical—one whose use will be a pleasant reminder of the giver: What could be more perfect than electrical appliances? Your neighborhood Electrical Dealer will have

so many suggestions,all within reach of your pocketbook, that the problem will be to choose. He has, among other electrical wedding presents, reading and decorative lamps, percolators, toasters, waffle irons, and grills for the popular buffet meals. A visit to your Electrical Dealer is the quickest way of deciding what to get, and is a guarantee of delight on the part of the bride.

• Published in the interests of the Electrical Contractors and Dealers by Indiana General Service Company