Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 7 December 1934 — Page 4

THE POST-DEMOCRAT # Democratic weekly newspaper representing the Democrats of Muncie, Delaware County and the 10th Congressional District The only Democratic Newspaper in Delaware County. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1921, at the Postoffice #it Muncie, Indiana, under Act of March 3, 1879. PRICE 5 CENTS—$100 A YEAR. 223 North Elm Street—Telephone 2540 GEO. R. DALE, Editor Muncie, Indiana, Friday, December 7, 1934.

The Corbett Johnson Mystery Along about the first of May, 1932, just prior to Muncie's justly celebrated federal conspiracy trial, Corbett Johnson, the government’s star witness, told a cock and bull story about being kidnaped by “four dark strangers” and we remember the banner head in the afternoon paper. There was no reluctance about mentioning his name and his harrowing experiences, as there was in a recent alleged kidnaping. ! Later it turned out that the story was entirely fabricated. The story went that Corbett recognized as one of his abductors Ray Powell of the Muncie police force. He said he was told that he would be murdered if he testified at the federal trial to be held ten days hence. Poor Corbett. He was promised immunity if he would “confess” to the crime of being in a conspiracy with the mayor and chief of police. He he “confessed” at the trial too fluently and served eighteen months in federal prison. The “kidnaping” was actually played up in the trial, former United States Attorney Jeffrey in his opening statement to the jury making specific mention to the recognition of Powell, one of the defendants in the phony trial. In some manner, before he testified, Corbejt learned that Policeman Powell was on duty at the desk of the police trial on the very night that the imaginary kidnaping case was supposed to have taken place. When Corbett took the stand the district attorney asked him to look at Powell and tell the jury if he was one of the “kidnapers.” “No,” said Corbett, “now that I have taken a good look at him, he was not the man. I thought I knew Powell by sight, but find out I was mistaken. It must have been somebody else.” Corbett is out of the pen now and has been lost sight of. . Maybe he has quit bootlegging and gone into the insurance business.

Defeated Candidates The rumor factory, working fast and furious, has it that Mayor-elect Roll Bunch will give no appointments to Demoocratic candidates defeated in the recent election. We doubt whether Doc said it, but he has a right to say it and stick to it, if he wants to. There is no law that would stand muster in the courts that prevents him from making such appointments as he darn pleases. Governor McNutt, who is not slow as a politician himself, chose to appoint Chester Montgomery to head the Indiana Securities Commission, and Montgomery, a Democrat, was rather badly beaten by a Republican, in his recent race for mayor of South Bend. Everything is fair in love, war—or politics. It’s a great game and the man who cannot take it in the neck and grin, no matter what happens to him, ought to try some other trade. Usually candidates who are defeated spend much of their time trying to find out who double crossed them. Why bless their little hearts, that’s the interesting part of the game. If you think you were double crossed, just charged it up to experience. And don’t get sore. It’s bad for your digestoin.

Huey Rules the Canebrakes Those who cuss Senator Huey Long, of Louisiana are mostly long distance guys. They can’t do it in Loozany and | live extended political lives. He is criticized, mostly by us | nothenahs. One of the senator’s forty-four hand made laws, passed the other day by Huey’s legislature, declared the position of Democratic state chairman vacant. Mayor Walmsley, of New Orleans, happened to be the state chairman who was vacated. The law went into effect Thursday and the state committee met on that day and by a tremendous majority elected the kingfish state chairman, no doubt a great surprise to Huey. Walmsley, present at the meeting, protested violently. He declared in a loud voice that Huey had said that he “didn’t give a damn for the government,” and that it was his duty to voice objection to a man who had said such an awful thing. Nevertheless Walmsley was immediately booted out and Huey was booted in. Huey is the cockeyed boss of Louisiana. His friends are quickly rewarded and swift vengeance awaits his enemies. An interesting character in American politics.

The Sure Way There is one sure way, and only one, of preventing tuberculosis. It lies in the examination of all “contacts.” A “contact” is any person that lives, works or plays with a person who has tuberculosis of the lungs. He may not have any sign of illness—he may not even have the germs of tuberculosis in his body—but for safety’s sake he should be examined. Tuberculosis is a group or family disease. Every member of the family in which there is a case should be examined. Often one or more of the children already have the germs in their body. They are at the outer-edge of the hazard zone. They can be saved if the danger is recognized and heeded. Each child of such a family should be examined with the tuberculin test. This test is harmless. It tells whether or not tuberculosis germs have entered the body. But it tells only that and ho more. If it is positive, the next step is to have the child X-rayed. From the X-ray can be learned if any lung damago has already been done. Today it is necessary to know where every case of tuberculosis is. This means that every case of tuberculosis must be traced back to its source and that all who live with, work with, or go to school with persons who have tuberculosis must be carefully examined. Those in need of protection or treatment should be cared for properly. Tuberculosis associations have been active in trying to locate cases of this disease in order to place them on the road to recovery and prevent the spread of this malady that exacts a needless toll of life. This work is financed by Christmas Seals now on sale. The cost is little but the results are large. A sure way to provide health protection and to help others is to buy liberally of these messengers of hope.

G. 0. P. Confessions When Frederick E. Schortemeier, former Republican Secretary of State recently announced the specifications which he believes the Republican party of the future should live up to, he inadvertently de-

FMBAY, DECEMBER 7, 1934,

UNUSUAL FACTS REVEALED i v- i -

FOA THF SETTING OF “BEYOND THE LAW" COLUMBIA SELECTBD A Site in THE SOLEDAD CANYON, THE SCENE OF THREE SENSATIONAL T&AIN HOLD-UPS SINCE THE BUILDING OF THE SOUTHERN PACIfIC

i merit, but the faults of an administration, whether real or ; imaginary are a beautiful target to shoot at. And if the law permits it I will hand over the keys of the , mayor’s office to Roll Bunch on the first of January with | somewhat of a prayer of thanksgiving and profound wishes of a successful administration for the incoming mayor.

WHEN THE CAMERAMAN SAVE A PRINT,/S LOOKEDj HE MEANS IT IS OVER-DEVELOPED

PATRICIA CARON’S EARLIEST AMBIT/ON WAS TO BE A,-, ^ STREET-CAR CON~ DU crop SO SHE, COULD HAVE LOR OF NICKELS FOR CANDY.

WHEN T/HM M c COY LS HOT WORKIHO AT THE STUDJO YOU CIH E/ND him on ms ls;ooo acre ranch HERDING OVER 2000 HEAD OF CATTLE.

scribed the Democratic party of today and confessed the shortcomings | of his own party’s last campaign. Mr. Schortemeier’s Republican party of the future would do this: ! “It must never advocate fallacious policies simply because they I may be popular temporarily. It must continue to be the party of sound | money, of a national credit of integrity, of a balanced budget, of en- ; couragement and protection for American workmen, farmers and busi- j ness men, of a high standard of living, of commercial and industrial business recovery on the basis of voluntary activity rather than gov- j ernmental management and of improving our export business,” etc. ' If Mr. Schortemeier and his friends who followed unsound leader- i ship and false political plottings in the past campaign will look to Washington today they will see that their Republican party of tomor- | row already is the Democratic party of today. In other words. Demo- j cratic policies for better government are ohe political campaign at least ahead of Republican perceptions and Democratic principles of | government are 150 years ahead so far as the common welfare of j American people is concerned.

Senator Van Nuys is Right on the Job At Washington, Senator Frederick Van Nuys is making a study of unemployment insurance with a view to lending a helping hand if not actually introducing a bill himself for promotion of President Roosevelt’s next phase of the national recovery movement. Senator Van Nuys has been revealed in his two years at the nation’s capitoi as being a most diligent student of legislation and public needs. Already he has Avon the respect of his colleagues and is winning a position of leadership in the

Tinted States Senate.

DELAYED ACTION I (Continued From Page One) j preparation had been made to acj quire funds to pay operating costs ! gnd practically no funds were left j by the preceding administration j and it was necessary to hold-up ! pay-rolls as well as commercial j claims for two months until the | routine of authorizing a temporary loan could be accomplished, Controller Holloway attempted to relieve this condition by having such action taken prior to the first of January and leaving the “stage set” for the incoming administration to acquire necessary funds. Had these temporary loan ordinances been properly acted upon at the last meeting of the council, the sale ol time warrants could have beeii advertised and received wi1h the resull that the new administration could have signed the notes and called at the bank to receive money with which to meet operating costs until it was possibl to negotiate

lax collections.

Funds Nearly Depleted At the beginning of the present j administration in January 1930, ! there remained in the city treasury i barely enough money t'o pay em- j ployees of the street department j for a few weeks. It was necessary at that time to negotiate a temporary loan which was done but. required nearly sixty days to properly comply with all legal necessities tor authorizing-such a, loan. In this respect, the civil city was unable to pay police and fireman salaries, official payrolls, or any. qualified bills against the city until the latter part of February or at the end of the second month of the ad ministration. Not only were all funds nearly depleted but approximately $14,000 in hold over claims or debts were left for the Dale ad ministration to pay. Had the temporary man ordinancees been acted upon by the council last Monday night, the above experiences could have been avoided but now it is almost assured that city employees as well as merchant creditors of the civil city will go payless for at least the month of January until proper action has been taken to borrow funds. It so happens that a greater part of the outstanding bonded indebtedness comes due and payable on January first and July first of each year and it will be necessary to borrow money by January first with which to meet these obligations. The lack of action by the common council on last Monday

night, its final meeting of 1934, will cause the defaulting of City of Muncie credit for at least one month. This practice has never been done during the present administration and as a result the financial credit of the civil City of Muncie is recognized as excellent from coast to coast. It would not have been necessary to default beginning tvith 1935 bad the common council stressed their thoughts on the propey handling of city business rather than expecting that someone was trying to “<put some thing over” on them or perhaps glorifying in the result of embarassing the credit of the entire citizenry of Muncie.

FORTUNATE FLORIDA. The traffic officials down in Florida have been counting passing automobiles and they have ascertained that there are 30 per 'cent more visitors in Miami at the present time than there were at this time last year. All the news from there indicates that the state Is leading the procession in regaining prosperity.

50.00

25.00

NOTICE. Notice is hereby given by the undersigned that an emergency exists for a meeting of the Township Advisory Board of Monroe Township, Delaware County, Indiana, to make appropriations of additional amounts of money for expenditures for said Township during the current year of 1934 as follows, to-

wit:

Fund No. 4 Books, Stationary, Printing and

Advertising $ 15.00

Fund No. 22 Repair of building Fund No. 23 Repair of equipment Fund No. 24 School fur-

niture and equip 200.00

Fund No. 25 School sup-

plies 125.00

Fund' No. 26 Janitor

supplies 25.00

Fund No. 32 Janitor

service 50.00 And that a meeting of the Township Advisory Board of said Township and the trustee thereof, will be held at the office of the said Township Trustee at his home in Monroe Township on the 10th day of December, 1934, at 7:30 o’clock p. m., of said day, at which time said appropriations will be consid-

ered.

CHALMER D. KERN, Trustee of Monroe Township.

The Stars’ Christmas Tree

A newcomer to pictures who is Vapidly proving herself of first importance is Grace Bradley, star of Monogram’s “Ttedhead.”

Pour les Invitees FPHERE is a colorful old Irish pro- *-“■ verb which says, “Habits are at first cobwebs—at last cables/* This is rather frightening when we contemplate the way Junior will bite his fingernails; but, ad it is equally true of good habits, it is really very heartening. One! of the nicest of universal habits is! that of remembering friends at Christmas time, and December finds us all busily writing down lists and summoning all our ingenuity to try and think of oxig-i inal and individual gifts for every name. Most people have at least one person written down who is addicted to the pleasant habi^; of hospitality—which is a habit like most things, good and bad. In Hollywood, as in Paris, where lovely women gather to enjoy the hospitality of friends, hostesses have discovered little things which make all the difference between entertaining in a routine manner* or in a gracious and thoughtful one. Such a one, for instance, is Lentheric’s hexagonal box called “Pour les Invitees,” which contains five different shades of face powder and five little swansdown puffs. Keep ( a little lime on shelves where jellies and preserves are kept. This will help to preAmnt for mation of mold. -*•-

QOOR CniLD /AND the school

By Dr. ALLEN G. IRELAND

Dtmln PbfMat md Htmlih Edmatten Hrw Suit Dtpanmm of PuHn laiirndio*

OUT of SANTA’S SLEIGH

1 attended a meeting of mayors of many important cities in the state Tuesday at Indianapolis. The ob ject of the meeting was to discuss the validity of the so-called “skip” election law. The meeting was called by Mayor John McCarty, of Washington, Ind. It may be recalled that the Post-Democrat always, objected to the law. When it was passed by the 1933 legislature I was in a hospital taking treatment for a sudden affection of the eye. The lower house had passed the bill and it was forwarded to the senate. I dictated a wire which was sent to Lieu-tenant-Governor Clifford Townsend, ex-officio president of the senate, requesting that the bill be amended to exclude Muncie from the provisions of the act. j Of course Muncie was not excluded. It probably could not have been done without invalidating the whole act as being class legislation, but any rate the telegram was. sent, although the act itself presented to me an extra year in office. * ' Since that time the Post-Democrat has frequently argued that the cat. would not rebound to the eventual credit of the Democratic party. I never’ discussed the question of the constitutionality of the act for I never read it in full and even if I had would not have discovered kinks in the law, if they are there. It was my theory that city elections should not in any way be confused with county, state and national elections and that confusion and ill feeling would follow. A certain prejudice was bound to attach to mayors who held office an extra year, which would reflect itself in the primaries and elections of 1934. Some mayors were renominated and elected, but the number was very few and was confined exclusively to the smaller cities. Republicans have recovered their losses in South. Bend, Fort Wayne, Terre Haute, and many other

places.

The Republican party is a tough nut to .crack, so, sooner or later Indiana will have a Republican legislature, and to get 6ven may pass a law to skip all elections for t wenty years

or so.

Attorneys interested in the law told the mayors at Indianapolis that the law contains a great many constitutional defects and many would like to see it tested, not as some may suppose for selfish interests, but to find out whether the law is good and conforms to the constitution,

useful for cleaning wallpaper ami j Leaving shortly after the mayors convened, I told the are also good for cleaning bathtubs I others that I would join them in requesting an interpretation and the like, without the aid of | of the law if the others were all in harmony with such a

program..

But I still insist that it would have been much better if the law had not been passed and the elections had been held in 1933, whether the law is valid, or invalid. My defeat in the primary was helped along considerably by frequent repetition, from mouth to ear, that “Dale and his gang” had been given a year in office that they were not entitled to. And believe me, my dear readers, I don’t care a tinker’s cuss for the job itself. Being mayor is not what it is cracked up to be. One receives scant praise for actual accomplish-

Health Protection The opening of schools means the congregation of large armies oi children into groups. This means that the chances of disease contagion are greatly increased, especially for children entering school for the first

time.

To offset the danger, there are the following procedures which every parent

and teacher should support. (1) Abolish competitive attendance devices and rewards. (1) Let every parent promise himself to keep his child at home upon the first appearance of any ailment, complaint, isign or Symptom. This measure !&lone would prevent much misery and illness. (3) Endorse immunization as a routine procedure. This includes vaccination against » smallpox and toxoid injections to prevent diphtheria. Undoubtedly we shall soon accept similar measures against other communicable diseases. (4) The morning health inspection by the teacher during the first five minutes of the session. (5) Immediate exclusion from school of every child showing any departure from normal. (6) Support the health authorities in asking that all children be given a test to determine the possible presence of tuberculosis. (7) Have a qualified interested physician employed by the board of education. School athletics will be the sub~ feet of Dr. Ireland’s next article.

HELPFUL HINTS

Make cheesecloth bags and fill them with bran. They are very

soap.

Mix equal parts of olive oil and turpentine and apply lightly to furniture that has become dull or dingy. Then rub dry with a clean soft cloth. Rub a little lard on the outside of potatoes before putting them into the oven to bake. This will help them to peel after they are baked. The plan is also good for sweet potatoes.

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

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