Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 18 November 1932 — Page 1

FEARLESS

POST-DEMOC “HEW TO THE BLOCK; LET THE CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MIGHT.”

TRUTHFUL

VOLUME 12—NUMBER 43.

MUNCIE, INDIANA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1932.

PRICE: TWO CENTS

Torment

By Helfur Surton

ELECTION LINES AND BREAD LINES. The Associated Press brings a bit of election humor from Florida. A wealthy and elderly woman tourist from the North saw a long line of people before a small suburban store, stopped her car, took out her purse, and went over to •'‘help the breadline,V declaring /that she had never seen such deplorable conditions. Then she was told that it was election day and the people were waiting in line to

vote.

' There is more than humor in that story, tl embodies the ready good will and the appalling civic ignorance which mark so large a proportion of our well to do. Rut please note that the woman stopped and went over to the line. If Henry Ford Mad shown that much enterprise, he might have learned about t Me ele> i i ,n in time to register. x FRIENDLY CONGRESS. 'PMe Democrats will have an embarrassing majority in botM houses of tMe next Congress. The Republicans will be lucky if they get more than one-third of the 435 members of*the House. In the Senate, with its 96 members, the Democrats, will probably have a ..clean majority of 23. In addition, however, if Rosevelt offers a Progressive legislative program, they may count on the support of at least a dozen Republican , Sen-

ators.

Seldom in the last 100 years has a president-elect faced such a friendly Congress. All through the Coolidge and Hoover administrations the White House and the Capitol were snarling at each other. This promises to he completely reversed during the new administration. SAYS “LABOR’' HELPED. The following is from Frederick Van Nuys, the Progressive Democrat who defeated Senator “Jim” Watson, “Old Guard” Republican, for United States Senator from Indiana last Tuesday: To the Editor of LABOR: 1 am glad to have this opportunity to express my admiration and sincere apureciatioa of your great paper. The special edition which you sent into Indiana ,at the suggestion of the railroad labor organizations, brought victory to Progressivism and for my candi-

dacy.

I am leading the Demcratic ticket in Indiana. May I ask you to express my gratitude to the members of the railroad labor organizations? FREDERICK VAN NUYS.

kt runs to hot ra rae n nit cum nawan ora

STATE LEADERS GETTING BUSY > MAKING PLANS

Less Than Two Months For Job of Reorganization

RESPONSIBILITIES WITH VICTORY

P. E. Greenlee to be Executive Secretary to Gov. McNutt

“JIM LOSES HIS TEMPER. Labor sent a special edition to Indiana in opposition to Watson and in behalf of Van Nuys. It was thoroughly circulated all through the state. When W'atson saw it he lost liis temper and described the edition as “pure Democratic propaganda” and insisted that Labor was “a scurrilous slanderous, lying sheet, bought up by the Dem-

ocrats.”

Of course Watson knew if Labor wished to “sell out” it would have gone to him and would have been assured of a handsome price. Watson’s outbursts merely [p stimulated the railroad “boys” to greater effort, and Van Nuys, on the face of partial returns, seems to have rolled up a bigger .major-

ity than Roosevelt.

THINGS THAT CAN’T BE DONE. You cannot beat the drum of your ear. - ^ You cannot find jewels on the crown of your head. You cannot make a pair of socks out of your brows, though you can knit them. You cannot raise your kneecap. There are no schools in your eyes, although there ax’© pupils

there.

You cannot grow cocoanuts the palms of your hands.

You cannot sharpen your shoul-

der blades on a grindstone. You cannot reap the corn

your toe.

(By Wray E. Fleming) There is very little that Democratic state headquarters can say about the past week in politics that is not already known at every crossroads and hamlet In Indiana. The victory in the election was so overwhelming that many of the party workers outstate will be )«reeks recovering from the shock. In the meantime, the state leaders of the party must get busy right away planning for the reorganization of state affairs that will go into effect when the new administration assumes jurisdiction the first of the year. Less than two months is available to accomplish this stupendous job and work has already been started on

the task.

A Wonderful Feat.

The attitude with which the leaders of the Democratic party in the state received the victory is an indication of what may be expected from the administration that will take over the state government for the coming four years. Theye was a happy feeling, congratulations were accepted with spirit and they were justly given for the state organization per formed a wonderful feat. Under neath it all, there was a serious ness of purpose and a manifesta tion of the knowledge that the vie tory carries responsibilitiees that

certainly are not minor. Democrats in Harmony

If there was one outstanding factor which was proved by the campaign it was the power of perfect and smpothly operating organization. While the Democrats werh running along the straight and narrow road of harmony, pledged to a program that had been carefully outlined and planned, the Republicans were split in a hundred different ways. In the first place, the Republicans were overorganized. There were too many bureaus, committees, clubs and thee tails to the kite that held it down and slowed its speed. Even this might have been overcome had there not been dissention which existed between these various units and between the leaders of the party. It may take years

(Contitnued on Page Three.)

o

Fire Loss Shows Slight Increase Short Memory of People Cost the Nation 10,000 Lives and Half Billion Dollars Every Year.

on

on

CAT NURSES PIG

pig,

The Dalles, Ore.—A tiny abandoned by its mother, had good thing of it for a while after being taken into the family nursed by a house cat. But, hog like, he learned to get more milk than his share. The mother cat scratched his nose and cut off the supply, needed by her kittens.

STEALS SHERIFF’S MAKEUP

Portland, Or<|.—Deputy Sheriff Margaret Johnson of Tillamook Ore., is looking for the meanest thief in the world—the one who stole her powder puff and rouge from her parked car on a recent visit here.

Things haven’t changed. The old-fashioned political speech just seemed to contain less platitudes because the audience contained

more liquor.

MAYOR’S CORNER

Notwithstanding the constant nagging and criminal and civil persecutions that have been visited on me the past ten years, and especially during the two years and ten months I have served as mayor, I generally know how to preserve my temper and how to meet the gadflies with a cheerful grin. In that respect I may be some kin to Jim Watson, even if I do belong to a somewhat different school of political thought than the late lamented boss of the United States. ' Being a newspaper man it irritates me of course to be razzed and purposely misrepresented by other newspaper men. I can stand their editorial jibes, their criticisms and their political bias, but finally the Press found a way under my hide, and having found the sore spot, will probably continue to throw salt on the gaping wound. I don’t know which of the Press staff invented the idea, but it’s good, and when I blew up and ordered Dick Greene out of the controller’s office the other day, I was childish, of course, but I simply had to let off steam, so I took it out on Dick. The Press never refers to me as mayor. It kept digging at me as “Former Mayor Dale,” wondering no doubt how long I would take that lying down. But the climax was reached the other day when I went to French Lick to mingle with a number of dazzling politicians from Indiana and Illinois. In announcing my trip there the Press referred to me as “George R. Dale, claimant to the office of mayor.” I sadly admit that I saw red, and the next thing I saw was Greene, and took it out on him. He came right back with' a fine little story in the Press, in which he again referred ' to me in three different places as the “claimant,” which I “claim,” was rather rubbing it ip. fi Presumably I will be the claimant, and Earl Everett will be the real thing, world without end, but I have got over my mad spell and from now on don’t give a tinker’s cuss what I am called. Of course I might come back and swear that the Press is not a newspaper, but just claims to be one, and that Dick just claims to be a reporter, and therefore refuse to recognize IJick as an accredited reporter and the Press as a newspaper, but what’s the ( Continued to Page Two.)

Church Observance to End Celebration

Every Church In The Land To Participate in Closing Tribute To George Washington

Fire destruction again shows a slight increase. For the first 9 months of the year it was $341,050,639, compared with $340,713,487 in the same period last year. We will soon learn whether any good results followed Fire Prevention week, which was observed in October. As a general rule, the loss goes down during the week and in the period immediately following, only to rise again soon after. When it comes to fire, the public has a short memory. That shortness costs the nation ten thousand lives and a half a billion dollars each twelve months. In normal times the waste is a disgrace. In these times it is an unmitigated tragedy. . The actual destruction of property is the lease of the total fire bill—more important by far is the unemployment, loss of business and increased taxes that inevitably follow. Cases are on record where whole communities have seen progress come to an end because of a single great, fire—which could easily have been prevented. j Remember what you were taught during Fire Prevention week. Apply it to the course of your daily life. And help diminish this ter-

rific yearly loss.

CONSPIRACY CASE ARGUED

Attorneys W. A. McClellan of Muncie and Clarence Nichols and Dixon Bynum of Indianapolis, Wednesday argued at Chicago in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals in behalf of the defendants in the so-called Muncie conspiracy case. In the supplemental brief by the defense, separating and classifying the evidence against each defendant, it was set out that no conspiracy had been shown and that there had not been one scintilla of corroborating evidence to substantiate the charge of conspiracy. The defense charged that the brief of the government was misleading and was unsupported by the record of the trial. At the conclusion of the argument the court ordered United States Attorney George R. Jeffrey to prepare a new brief and have it on file in ten days. Mr. Jeffrey pleaded for more time and the court gave him two weeks to prepare the brief. The three judges who heard the argument were Alschuler, Evans and Wilkerson. Judge Sparks disqualified himself because of his residence in Indiana and Judge Wilkerson substituted. A trace of humor entered into the argument when one of the judges expressed surprise that one gallon of liquor would be sufficient for a Democratic state convention. One of the counsel for defense then dryly reiharked that the individual charged with transporting that lonely gallon of hooch was acquitted. The court was also interested in the unsupported evidence of the negro Duncan, who swore at the trial that he drove the mayor and “Blondie” to a road house where everybody got drunk and danced. Incidentally the court has on file a lengthy confession, signed and sworn to by Duncan, that his entire testimony was false. 1

The George Washington bicentennial celebration will be brought to a close on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, in the same manner h which it began on February 22 -T7 with religious services in honor of George Washington in all the churches of America. The United States George Washington bicentennial commission estimates that more than 75,000 churches will participate in separate Thanksgiving bicentennial exercises. In many cities and tOAvns, the bicentennial aommissipn reports, churches of all denominations will hold joint -commemorative Thanksgiving Day exercises in honor of the father of his country. The reports from the religious societies of America indicate that every church of the land will participate in this closing tribute, either by holding separate bicentennial exercises or by joining with the other churches of their community in a combined celebration. In Foreign Countries, Too The bicentennial celebration has been going on in all parts of the wofld for the past nine months. More than 700,000 separate committees, representing the schools and churches as well as civic, fraternal and patriotic societies, have, been actively engaged in honoring the memory of George Washington on the two hundredth anniversary of his birth. Every state, city and town in the United States has participat'd. Besides, the celebrafton has been carried out in ail our territories and dependencies as well as in seventy-eight foreign countries. The Records of the United States George Washington bicentennial commission indicate that to date more than one million separate bicentennial programs have been held in all parts of the, world. Booklets Still Available This unprecedented celebration ‘he greatest tribute ever paid to a national hero—will come to an official close with observances of simplicity and respect. A united nation will show its reverence and admiration for its founder. The United States George Washington bicentennial commission announces that it has prepared special booklets to assist organizations in arranging their Thanksgiving Day celebration programs. More than 25,0 CO of these booklets have already been distributed. In addition the commission had prepared a book of sermons made up of contributions from the leading clergymen of the various denomination s of America. These sermon books have been distributed primarily to churches in small cities and towns where facilities for research are not abundant. Copies may still be procured by writing to the United Statesi George Washington bicentennial commission in Washington, D. C. o — Hang Around the Fire Department

Will Bring Back Boyhood Memories, Also Ideas of Department Is As It Should Be

Whenever Council Had Anything Especially Dirty to Put Over on Chief Executive and Controller Holloway, Linton’s Sanctum Was Rendezvous. NEWSPAPER MLOGISTS ABSURD; ATTEMPT TO COVER UP SHORTAGE Detective Department of Police, at Request of Field Examiners, Kept Busy Running Down Holders of Receipts for Fines Paid.

Here, There Everywhere

LET US BE THANKFUL. Now that we have appropriately celebrated Armistice Day and have paid our respects to th'fe deceased soldiers of the World War, as well as those who survive, we can begin to turn our attention to Thanksgiving Day; a day set apart (by our nation on wtiicb we are supposed to give thanks to an all-wise Creator' for the many gifts and graces, blessings and favors which He has bestowed on us during the past year. Let those of us who have been more favored than others not forget the source from which our good fortune has been derived and he thankful for these bountiful favors received and he ready and willing to help those who have not been so fortunate in their endeavors as ourselves, and by so doing bring a little sunshine into their lives in order that they may have something to he thankful for, just as you and I are thankful for the favors so generously bestowed upon us. Don’t wait for Thanksgiving Day to arrive. Do it now! Not as an act of charity, but in a spirit of true Americanism and of (brotherly love toward our fellow-man. If we do this, then we are not only expressing our thankfulness in words, but our actions are proof that we are really and truly thankful, indeed. (

Since the beginning of organized fire fighting, the fire station has always been a place of fascination to small boys. There’s hardly a man who doesn’t remember hanging about, staring at the glittering red monsters within—or, to go back a bit farther, the stalwart horses —and perhaps venturing an occasional bashful word to the firemen. It would be a good idea if adults did a bit of hanging around the fire station, too, not with the impassioned hero worship of the boy, but from a more critical standpoin—to find out if the local fire department is as good as it might be. Any fire department, whether it serves a village or a metropolis, consists of but two factors—men and machines. Everything depends on them. A successful fire department is simply an organizajtion with a trained, intelligent (personnel commanding the best apparatus that the human mind ( and hand can create. o Get knowledge. It enables you to worry about a lot of things of which the ignorant are unaware.

It is somewhat ridiculous to read what the daily newspapers here have to say about the case of Linton Ridgeway, city clerk. As yet they have kept Linton’s case strictly confined to the inside pages. Ridgeway is a Democrat of a certain sort and his office in the city hall was the general meeting place for council, marplots, federal stool pigeons Clell Maple, Bob Parkinson and such tripe as that. * It was in the city clerk’s office that most of the plots were hatched to oust the mayor and city controller, and whenever the council had anything especially dirty to put over, the clerk’s office was the rendezvous. Bookkeeping Is Very Simple. As elerk of the' eify court Kidgeway is the custodian of the money paid in for fines. Thaf’s all the money that is handled in the city clerk’s office. _ The bookkeeping is very simple. Any twelve-year-old boy could keep the account straight as long as he was straight himself. When a fine is paid all the city clerk has to do is to take in the money, give the person a receipt from a receipt book containing stubs, which show who had paid and hpw much is paid. The amount is credited on the court docket and the’clerk’s cash book and that is all there is to it There is no way in the world that the clerk could get -mixed up in this account. It is therefore absurd foy Ridgeway’s newspa per apologists to try to brush away an absolute theft of the people’s money by charging it up to careless bookkeeping. New System Vs. Dishonesty. The Star Friday morning quotes the chief examiner of the state board of accounts as saying that a new system of bookkeeping would be installed. No system of bookkeeping on earth can prevent dis-

honesty.

The chief examiner did sav, to the knowledge of the Post-Democrat, that the best way to keep th fine money in the clerk’s office straight was for the clerk to retain a carbon copy of each receipt given At the request of the field examiners the detective department has been kept busy running down the holders of receipts for fines where the records show that nothing has been paid or only partial pay

ments made.

There is no way of telling at present how much of this fine money has been held out by the clerk, but many have thus far been discovered by the police, who have been working under instructions from the state board of accounts. Two cases in particular which cannot be attributed to “careless’’ bookkeeping might be noted: Two Palpable Cases. The first case discovered showed distinctly on the receipt stub that the figures “$130.00”^ had been changed to Tead “$13.00.” The alteration was so crude that Ridgeway was questioned. The cash book showed that only $13 had been paid by the law violator. The court docket showed a credit of only $13. Ridgeway stated that the man who had paid the $13 had moved to New

York.

The examiners requested Chief Massey to locate the man if possible and in less than an hour he was found, not in New York, but in Muncie. He held a receipt signed by Ridgeway showing that he had paid $130, the full amount of his fine. Would you call that careless bookkeeping or (Continued to Page Two)

NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.

We are wondering whether the few Republicans who will remain in Congress and the Senate when the Democrats take over the government, will endeavor to create discord among the majority mem bers, so that the action of these bodies will be on a parity/ with •that of the common council of Muncie? Democrats, as a rule, are not as smooth politicians as their Republican brethren, which may oossibly explain the large Republican majority in Delaware County.

NEW NAME FOR PRECINCT. The Whitely precinct in Muncie should hereafter be designated as ‘The Po’ke Chop Precinct,” as a few pork sandwiches seem to have caused a lapse of memory among the voters sxl that precinct. TUasovoters have possibly forgotten the raw deal that was pulled off on ’hem in the building of certain streets in the Whitely addition by former Republican administra’ion; a deal whereby many of these same voters will eventually loose ’heir homes. It would require several thousand sandwiches to make up the loss sustained by them in the way of excess cost paid for ‘hese improvements and it is too bad they did not have a copy of he assessment rolls, showing the sost of the improvements before ’.hem when the sandwiches were oassed around. Had these documents been there for the voters to oeruse, it is possible there would have been little appetite for sandwiches. But what’s the use talking? Some people will never learn until it is too late. This looks like a case of Curtis “recked” ’em. or is it

“um?”

WANTED—A

“STAR” CANDIDATE. The Muncie Star has just begun a drive “to select an outstanding candidate for mayor,” and after advancing its reasons for such a selection it relieves itself of the following: “We want a man for mayor in whom the community can have full confidence and who is capable of winning the respect that is due a city like Muncie, and we lon’t care whether that man ik a Republican or a Democrat. Muncie has some gigantic problems facing t and it is going to take more than r politician to solve them as they should be solved.” In the first olace, will someone name a Democrat in Muncie that would be considered as an outstanding candidate by the Star as against a Republican candidate for the office of mayor? What has the Star done to ! nvite the confidence and respect of the people of Muncie, during the past twenty years? What gigantic problems are facing Muncie, outside the proposed intercepting sewer which has been estimated to cost $1,740,000, and which the Star bas been so persistent in trying to force on the people of Muncie. although the estimated cost is from $700,000 to $800,000 above what the sewer should cost? If the intercepting sewer is the gigantic problem referred to. what outstanding citizen of Muncie has any knowledge as to its merits, outside of what bas been told him by those who are anticipating the collection of an engineering fee of $174,000, in the event the sewer is built? Yes, by all means, let us have an outstanding candidate for mayor; one that will work for the interest of the common people. This is no time for an “outstanding candidate” selected

by the Star.

Every years automobiles are being improved with a view tp ge’ting us there more quickly. Now, if they would invent some attachment that would give us employment when we get there, everything might be all right.