Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 15 November 1935 — Page 1
“A man’s education is a continuing thing throughout his life. Especially is this true of education in public affairs.” —President Roosevelt.
THE POST-DEMOCRAT i
“We are coming back more solidly than ever before because we have planned it that way. And don’t let —President Roosevelt, anyone tell you differently.”
VOLUME 16—NUMBER 42.
MUNCIE, INDIANA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1935.
PRICE: FIVE CENTS
HOME MERCHANTS DESERVE YOUR TRADE
Questionnaire S ent Out By United States C. C. Absurd and Silly
Almost As Misleading As Doctor Gallop’s Institute of Public Opinion—Local Chamber of Commerce Will Ignore the Questions — Post-Democrat Offers Suggestions for Answers to Interrogatives. According to the Star the national administration now has something to worry about. The United States Chamber of Commerce has boiled its various affiliates over the country and the announcement is made that with but the exception of two unimportant lodges in the far west, the principles of the New Deal have been rejected. The Star failed to mention whether or not the local chamber of commerce voted, but it is doubted that a poll of the membership would disclose that any such a sentiment prevails to any great extent among the four hundred odd members of the Muncie organization. • The editorial in the local paper was headed “Business Shies at the New Deal.”
The Referendum
Tim
so-called
“nation-wide”
referendum referred to has all the
the various members of the commercial organizations might have
earmarks of the conclusions of Dr. Galloop’s “Institute of Public Opinion,” arrived at by clairvoyant)
methods.
Honest "business” does not shy
I produced some very
interesting j
FINLEY GRAY. (Congressman Gray was renewing friendships in Muncie this week, visiting old friends. -o-
i reading matter.
Incidentally it may be news to Muncie to know mat the members of the Muncie chamber of com-
at the new deal. The business of i merce have not been asked to vote re-creating the old deal by seif- i on f our questions nor is it serving politicians is as old as the, jj^gjy they will be.
hills and the United States
referendum of the Chamber of Com-
the interes
Here is the questionnaire sent out by that distinctly Old Guard Republican organization: "Shall federal jurisdiction be extended into state and local af-1 fairs?” ! “Shall the government go ahead |
In the event that they are, the Post-Democrat suggests the fol.yUjoaiuag answers, regardless of the
of the old dealers.
running up a deficit?” “Shall the government compete with private enterprise?” “Should all grants of authority by congress to the executive department of the federal government he within clearly defined
limits?”
Silly Question No. 1 Reduced to one question the foregoing group is somewhat similar to the famous interrogation of the lawyer who asked a help-
less witness:
“When did you quit whipping your mother-in-law?” Trying to explain that he had never licked his ' wife’s mother 'and that he hadn’t quit because he had never begun, the witness was stopped by the, court and sternly admonished to answer either yes or no. The witness went to jail for \ contempt complaining that there liain’t no justiqe. The questions submitted by the United States Chamber of Commerce admit of only one reply—
yes or no.
If elaboration were permissible,
rules of evidence: A Suggestion Q. Shall federal jurisdiction be extended into state and local affairs? | A. No; let’s secede from the
Union.
Q. Shall the government go
I ahead running up a deficit? A. Can’t answer that until I get full information from Parley
and Fletcher.
Q. Shall the government compete with private enterprise? ' A. No; I have always contended that George Ball ought to have a private contract to handle
the mails.
Q. Should all grants of authority by congress to the executive department of the federal government he within clearly defined
limits?
A. Yes; it has been my lifelong contention that congress and the president should be abolished and let the sky be the limit.
ENTERS PARLIAMENT AT 27
FIRST—One doesn’t have to have a large pile of "rocks” to build a rock garden. SECOND—Brains are not ntecessary, but a strong back is quite essential, in building A rock garden. THIRD—In order to lay out a perfect rock garden, the architect or ‘Whoever does the work, should be thiee-fourts “shot.” FOURTH—If you want a rock garden with modern culicues, zigzag courses, and irregular lines, and your architect does not get things to suit you in his first trial, call him and give him another “shot.” The drunker he is the more perfect his work will be. P. S.—When your garden is completed it •will perhaps look like h—1, but that’s the way all rock gardens look, so why worry? MORE P. S.—In many of the old countries, when they get through building a rock garden, ‘they usually build a high stone wall around it so that no one can see it, all of which shows sound judgment.
Montreal.—The oldest and the youngest members who will sit in the next Canadian Parliament come from Montreal. Sarto Fournier, 27, will be one of the youngest men ever elected to Parliament. He is a Liberal. The oldest is R. S. White, 60, a Conservative.
IT COULDN’T DESCEND UP An evangelist says there is no buying or selling in heaven. Of course not; that isn’t where business has gone.
"NO DEPOSIT" TO BE BLOWN ON NEW ONE-TBIP BOTTLES TO END DEPOSIT CHARGE, GLASS INDUSTRY DECIDES
i
New York, Nov. 14.—In an at i r- — ;
tempt to discourage brewers from i charging a deposit for the new “Stubby” bottle, iecently designee i as a one-trip beer container toj compete with tin cans, gins#]
manufacturers today ,loci,led to j lhree th0usand 5Urge0ns wh0 met blow the words "No Deposit” In.o!^ ^ Prancisco a short tlme ag0 the side of the bottle. i an(j (hat ls lh ( | |( | 1](Ue •. cutt | ng
At a meeting oi glass manuou
turers at the Waldorf Astoria? U P < while in session.
Hotel, it was called to the aUen •
tion of the standardization com-) 1 he man who originated that mitt.ee thatdeposits of thirty cents fold saying: “as certain as taxes”, a case had been charged for this L vidently knew .. his onions”, but
Big Combines Milking Stations For Outside Capital and Labor
There is at least one good thing that can be said in favor of the
Excise Director
should have added, ‘unless you
are wealthy.’
as a pig in clover”, [ . /
if If i vi
new bottle. Brewers asked t that| t action be laken ’to stamp out this,
practice.
After several conferences, thi§ standardization committee deckledf. that the best way to meet the situation wois right at the glass manufacturer’s plants by blowing into the s’de of the bottle the
words “No Deposit.” “One Trip—No Deposit”
“This action had been consid ered when the bottle was first introduced,” a member of the committee declared today, “but we finally decided that it would not be necessary as this bottle was designed expressly as a one-trip,
n ?.^? P ° S t it , ! >0t V ie ; n • f .. . . Las to put idle men at work. The stubby bottle is of a lighter tf
glass and is considerably cheaper N when a bandit enters a bank ban the standard long-neck b^t : U h the intention of commiting a tie It is intended as a one-trx| {L obbe he has no doubt read the contamer just as is the can, and constitution> and 5s jn ,. the pursujt neither the brewer, distributor nor happiness ... Should he be retailer should cnarge a deposit j' cailght in tbe act then he reads
, A 18 °P vlous ’ithe old document again and finds
though, that if the brewer charges j, that he is entitled to, “liberty.”
- the ^ 1S r ib ®° r he is conviictedTie ad- as ^ uaagw# r.a. 0 ——-y- -- tailei also must charge a deposit I v j ses hjg friends to become inter- | stale liquor stores and acandats stores are generally Ira
t0 ..m r u tect the ! r investment - ^national bankers; so that they can This practice must be stopped j pu j] tbe same k j nd 0 f stunts,
“As happy
is an old expression, but it never seems to apply to the political pigs the people “put on clover”, . nd who are never so happy as when they are rooting up some
dher fellow’s front yard.
Many men'^hose wives sit up of ghts trying to think up odd jobs .heir husbands can do during their summer vacation, feel that the government is losing out by not having them employed in making i plans for “made work projects”, so
PAUL P. FRY
One of the most difficult tasks of state government since the advent of prohibition repeal has been the regulation of the newly revived beer and liquor business. Governor Paul V. McNutt’s promise that he would not have the state engaging
in the liquor business has kept and
Sd* ii .^sequence Indiana has no The managers of these
Claim Institutions Shift Their Money Out of Town While Home Folks Attempt to Meet Brazen Competition — A. & P. Stores Handle Everything From a Peck of Whetstones to a Bottle of Beer—May Enter the Blacksmithing Business as a Side-
line.
Unless an aroused public rises in defense of local enterprise individual business men with comparatively small na-tion-wide connections will become the Vanishing American
of the future.
It is somewhat pitiful to observe the efforts of local dealers to organize among themselves to combat the pricecutting of gigantic combines that are rapidly establishing branch stores in every main population center of the country. With their gigantic purchases made from a single focal point these great combines are enabled to supply their thousands of branch stores with merchandise at prices which al-
most defy competition.
Quite frequently “leaders” are advertised by these chain institutions but by the time the buyer makes other purchases the sum total of expenditures is as great, or greater, than it would be if the buying were done at an independent store. The proceeds from the multiplied sales amounts to an immense total each day in Muncie, and are carted at once to
some distant point, never to return.
Smart Managers
as it is unfair to the public lo j only in a different way, without
charge them for a container which j being molested
was designed primarily to elim-
inate the deposit. What could be more appropriate He declared that if the practice as an emblem for the Hoover was not eliminated, it eventually i Grass Root Republicans, than the
would work a haroship on the en- app ie blossom?
tire brewing industry. The stubby bottle, he explained, was intended primarily as a contaiper for shipment outside the local markets, as the thinner glass makes it cheaper to ship than the heavier export bottle and means that the brewer can compete more favorably in
outside markets.
Although he said the committee’s action today would eventually eliminate the deposit evil, he advised the consumer meanwhile to refuse to pay a deposit on the
new one-trip bottle.
Stubby is a small, amber bottle, about three inches shorter than the regular beer bottle and much fuller in body. Both bottles contain the regulation twelve oun< bs
of beer.
LITTLE SPOT OF BOHEMIA IN THE UNITED STATES Yuba, Ws.—This little secluded
hillside village still retains the customs and traditions of old Bohemia. Even the clothing worn by residents and nearby farmers was patterned by their Bohemian im-
migrant fathers years ago.
o
SPELLERS TAKEN TO TASK Fremont, O.—The complaint of employers and college professors that modern high school graduates can’t spell has brought results from Principal A. C. Stokes of Ross high school. His students mispelled so many words that he ordered all to have one or two 20-*
minute lessons a week.
NEW SCHOOL BUILDINGS NEEDED Tt is somewhat gratifying to note that the school board has taken preliminary action looking to the enlargement and modernization of Roosevelt school. And this brings to mind that Muncie is badly in need of a number of new school houses. It will cost an immense amount of money to construct new buildings where they are needed and to repair, enlarge and modernize others and make them as nearly fire-proof as possible, but the money will be spent and those who have the interests and safety of our children at heart will not begrudge the expenditure. Muncie is a large and growing city, but strangers driving around town are constrained to wonder why our otherwise civic-minded people remain satisfied with some of the ancient structures that seem to survive to remind us that the era of the little red school is not a thing of the past. Fathers and mothers whose children attend school every day become anxious every time the fire department* makes a run. They know that some of our school houses are dangerous fire hazards. Uneasiness from that source will be dispelled when modern, fireproof buildings replace some of the ancient landmarks. The health and happiness of pupils and teachers will also be enhanced when modern buildings, heated and ventilated in a scientifir manner replace structures built at a time when the up-to-date appliances of today were unknown. It seems to the Post-Democrat that the school board should make a thorough survey of Muncie’s school houses and map out a program looking to building plans on a large and comprehensive scale. Many suggestions are made concerning this or that problem in our civic city, but proper schooling and enviroments of study are of major importance. The children of our community we have with us always, and after all they rank first in the minds of all right-thinking persons. The question of financing such an extensive building program is one requiring deep study, but minds must work before anything worthwhile is accomplished. It would be a big hill to climb but with real determination and purposeful intent behind it such a project should not be dismissed as impossible. Sooner or later the school house problem must be met and solved. It’s as vital a question today as it will be ten years from now. Why wait? This is an investment in childhood that will repay us many times over, no-matter what the cost may be.
Good News Becomes Bad News as Predicted By The Post-Democrat
Reverend Adams, Colored Evangelist Who Sold Worthless Newspaper Stock in Jail for Alleged Swindle of Invalid Widow — Was Once Introduced by Mayor Bunch to Senator Minton as “Our” Democratic Editor.
Some weeks ago the Post-Democrat revealed how a colored evangelist, the Rev. Benjamin Adams, swindled a widow ancT her son out of four hundred dollars by selling them stock in an alleged newspaper, circulating here under the title of “The Muncie Good News.” Adams was arrested Thursday by Deputy Sheriff Lester Corn, and locked up in jail in default of $3,000 bond on a charge of violting the state “blue sky” law, which protects unwary investors by requiring stock companies from marketing their paper without first securing permission to do so from the state security commission.
One to Ten
The alleged crime carries with it a penalty of one to ten years and a fine of $1,000. The Rev. Davis is a political preacher who bloomed out hete as ori ardent supporter of Roll Bunch for mayor. Frank Good was a janitor em ployed at the city hall during the
preceding administration. Upon death a son, Charles, the sole supporter of an invalid mother, was given his place. The sole estate of the deceased janitor was a life
insurance policy of $300.
On January 2, Adams sold to the widow and her son a block of stock in his “newspaper,” trading
the worthless paper for the widow’s $300. The son lost his job and he and his mother have been on relief since then. Of course the “Good News” paid no dividends. Young Good secured a lawyer who investigated and found that the incorporators had not secured permission from the state security coinmmisslon to sell stock. He Took The Widow An effort was made to require Adams to make good to the destitute and invalid widow, but the preacher-publisher said he had no money. The paper, according to his explanation made money during the political campaign but lost money after that. Adams says he is the victim of a frame-up, but thus far has not disclosed the identity of the framers. One other colored citizen has revealed that he purchased some of Brother Adams’ blue sky. Whether there are other speculators in Good News Incorpulated has not been disclosed. It will be recalled that when Senator Minton spoke here in 1934, Mayor Bunch, then a candidate, escorted Rev. Adams to the platform and introduced him to the senator-to-be as the editor of “our” Democratic newspaper.
such as have some Of the other states. For the first nine months after repeal, the licensing of liquor dealers and breweries was under an excise director, Paul P. Fry, of Linton. The 1935 Legislature at the request of Governor McNutt abolished roadhouses, created a bi-partisan commission to enforce the excise law and banned Sunday sales. Since this law became effective, Mr. Fry has been excise administrator with three other members of a bi-partisan board backing Jiim up in a strict enforcement of the new laws. One feature of the 1935 law was to give towns the right to prohibit liquor sales unless town boards voted the permission, thus restoring home rule on the subject. Likewise, each county •has its liquor license board from which appeals may be taken to the state commission. The new law not only resulted in the abolition of the roadhouse, but in drying up more than 350 towns in the state. The wet and dry issue had much to do with results voted in the
town elections this fall.
Mr. Fry has been vehement in his insistences that the letter of the 1935 law must be observed. Recently he threatened that if proper steps for enforcement are not taken in local communities the commission will act to revoke dealer’s permits in cases of re-
peated violations.
Before being appointed excise director, Mr. Fry had a long experience in the wholesale grocery business and other business enterprises. His knowledge particularly fitted him for the dual office of state purchasing agent which he holds along with the excise department duties. The Indiana system of excise collections and enforcement has been regarded as a model for other states with the cost of operations having been held to 2.48 per cent o'f fees collected. The system not only pays its own costs but returns more than $4,000,000 a year to schools and local communi-
ties.
ness men, schooled in the art of
merchandising on a grand scale.
Employes are merely machines, from wnom profit is expected. With the destruction of the NRA the shorter day, which meant less profit, made way again for long,
wearisome hours of labor. Customers at the great chain
stores pay cash for their purchases. When the day is done the money is there. “Get the money”
is the chain slogan.
The home store owner is less of a machine. He is not afraid to trust his neighbors and his clerks and other employes are more like members of the family than members of a •chain gang. The independent owners in the majority of cases are Muncie real estate owners and their money
stays in Muncie.
As regards quahty we might mention one product, beer, a liquid not essential to the life, liberty or pursuit of happiness of the buyer, but nevertheless a form of merchandise that seems to be greatly in demand, whether for better or for worse the Post-Democrat does
not testify.
Realizing that beei
stores moceeded tr
would mean
a- gn
& P. stores urofieeded to ~ seTT Beer, along with its meats, groceries, clothes pins or what have you.
Now Take Beer
They took over the product oi' one brewery and sell it retail at a jxrice less than the wholesaierr here pay for it at the better known breweries. While the chain stores sell a large amount of beer in Muncie, it has not seriously affected the business of Muncie’s three wholesalers * who handle standard brands of the liquid joy —or damnation, depending upon
the point of view.
We mention beer not as typical merchandise but as example oi the manner in which big chain stores work. If the horse should happen to crowd automobiles out of the picture they would advertise to shoe your horses while you
wait.
The Post-Democrat is not an advocate of “splendid isolation" it does advise Muncie people to spend their money insofar as it is practicable with the home folks who pay taxes heie and help support local institutions.
TO USE 35,000 LUMBERJACKS
Quebec.—About 35,000 lumberjacks will be employed in Province of Quebec forests this winter, it is estimated here. The lumber cut is expected to be heavy because stocks of lumbal and pulpwood are unusually low. o- — CARVED TOMBSTONE; DIES
St. Phillippe, Que.—Eugene Sauriol, middle-aged stone mason, carved a tombstone during his spare time. A few days after it was completed, he fell into the Petit Riviere St. Jacques and was drowned. — o CALVES BROKEN TO HARNESS Goderich, Qnt.—Lyle Lannan, young Ashfield township .farmer, uses calves instead of horses to do his work on his father’s farm. After months of training, he has succeeded in breiking two shorthorn calves to harness.
THE FAST TALKERS
The present city administration has been in office nearly ten months but it has accomplished little in the way of civic improvement. There has been much talk. Many conferences have been held, trips have been made to Washington and elsewhere and many statements have been made advising the public of numerous projects about to be started. But thus far it has all been dress parade. The officers give the command, “Make ready, take aim,” but the word “fire,” is never uttered. The sewer and disposal plant, which was just around the corner last January has now been forgotten. One plan after another has been broached. Streets were to be widened, separation of grade crossings were figured out on paper, plans for an elaborate Southside swimming pool were approved, the city hall was to be remodeled, another fire station w r as seriously considered and that day was counted lost that did not produce this or that project that never materialized. ^ To the general public the only real efforts of the administration have been centered upon one heroric task, and that is to find money not contemplated in budgetary allotments to pay salaries and wages to an unreasonably augmented staff of municipal employes. Looking around for some visible sign of the much touted coming of a happy day in Muncie the mefct noticeable exhibit is the joy wagon bought on the twm per cent plan by Controller Parkinson. It was announced in extenuation of unwarranted increase in the number of city employes that it meant the carrying out of a campaign pledge to put everybody to work. It was not taken by the public to mean that everybody w r as to go to work for the city, but that projects were to be devised and public works started that would furnish w r ork for everybody, not to a few chosen ones who had been promised before the election that they would be “taken care of.” Mayor Bunch has ability and comprehension enough of the needs of the city and the futility of attempting to perform the impossible not to realize the necessity of a drastic revisal of- the present program, if it can be called a program. It is a poor policy to mortgage the city to pay many useless employes. The Post-Democrat can offer the mayor no better advice than to weed out unnecessary help. The record shows that they are absorbing municipal funds that should be used to liquidate commercial claims. And the mayor knows that appointees who think they got their jobs on their political shape are heavy loads to carry. There is plenty of time yet to drop excess baggage.