Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 22 November 1935 — Page 1

“The Federal Government; is in a better position than it ever has been to prevent that disastrous expension and contraction of credit which in the past has made our economic life a succession of unhealthy booms and disastrous depressions.”—Roosevelt.

THE POST-DEMOCRAT

“In the process of recovery we have well-nigh unanimous agreement i n requiring the elimination of many of ihose evils in our national life withsut which true confidence cannot be nade permanent.” —President Roosevelt.

VOLUME 16—NUMBER 43.

MUNCTE, INDIANA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1935.

PRICE: FIVE CENTS

GANGSTERS RULE

Senator VanNuys

Starts Drive

on

The Chain Stores

Washington Dispatch Declares Senator Will l| ^ ews ^ QW

Trust Laws That Will Protect HomeOwned Business From Encroachment of Big Monopolies—Has Been Giving Matter Deep Study. Washington, Nov. 18.—Senator Frederick VanNuys intends to launch his attack on chain stores through a series of amendments to the anti-trust laws, rather than through additional taxation, he disclosed today. These amendments will provide that data on sales to chains must be filed by manufacturers and producers with the Federal Trade Commission. Price discrimination would be banned. The law will apply only to interstate commerce and thus is within the bounds of the Federal Constitution, VanNuys said.

Senator Issues Report After several weeks studying the matter, the Senator today issued a report on his findings. Re traced the greatest period of development of the chain systems to the last decade and pointed out that food and grocery chains now are credited with 44 per cent of the nation’s business in these conf-

modities.

“While the cnain stores originally confined themselves to the larger cities, theii most marked expansion during recent years has

tjfcen in the s.maiier .tpwns anil

m u n t r y (11 s t r i Ct s,

dared.

“The mosi casual investigation must lead to the conclusion that natibnal chain store merchandising is developing 10 the point where it threatens to monopolize our retail trade and ultimately destroy the independent whole-

saler and retailer.”

Charges Price Concessions Charging the cnains with forc-

ing price eoncessions in purchas-

ing commodities, he continued: “I get the follcving data from an

independent Indiana wholesaler. This dealer pays 2 1-2 cents per cake for. a certain nationally known product. The terms are net cash, no discount and no adver-

tising allowance.

“A certain national chain pays 2 1-2 cents per cake, less 10 per cent discount ano $12,000 per month as an alleged advertising

allowance.”

Deploring secret rebates, advertising allowance and brokerage commissions, which, he says,

mean millions to the chains annually, the Hoosler Senator asserts that it is time for state and Federal governments to rescue the

independent storekeepers. Drafts Loophole Bills

Guided by the suggestions and recommendations of the FTC chain store investigation reports, he is drafting bills to close the loopholes in the Clayton Act. “Among other proposed remedies, these bills will provide that all corporations which sell merchandise in interstate commerce

(pj^T ttr’VlftttTr or their'intefftfeSriaries, report to FTC the facts concerning prices, terms, discounts, allowances, quantities, grades, cost of production, selling and service,” VanNuys explained. “The commission will be authorized to order the modification or discontinuance ol the terms of such sales if found to he unfair or unreasonable. This provision adds strength to Section 2 of the Clay-

ton Act.

“The provisos of Section 2, however, place a very serious handicap on the effectiveness ol such section. In effect, they legalize discrimination in price on accbunt of difference in the grade, quality or quantity of the commodity sold or wher.e such discrimination makes only due allowance for difference in the cost of selling or transportation or is made in good faith to meet competition. To Strike Out Proviso “Through the loophole of this proviso, it has been almost im(Continued On .Page Six)

I Evangelist Adams, the colored j preacher-editor, is still in jail, in i default of $1,500 bond. ! He was arrested a week ago at I the request of a deputy attorney general for selling stock in a newspaper venture to an invalid widow without obtaining the necessary permit from the state securities commission to market stock shares. His original bond of $3,000 was reduced to $1,500 and he is said to be somewhat peeved over the neglect of his patron saint, Mayor Bunch, to arrange for his release. Dr. Davis, the colored member of the mayor’s board of health, is one of the incorporators of the “Good News,” the alleged newspaper which supported the mayor so ardently in his campaign last year. During the editor's temporary incarceration the “Good News” has suspended yubkeation, so the good news, which became bad news is now no news a all. The Reverend Adams, confined in the stone jug, now feels the sting of ingratitude His friend, the mayor, w r ho once introduced him to a United States senator as the editor of “our” Democratic newspaper, has not come to his rescue. Every man is entitled to a defense when he is ch&iged with a crime and the colored editor rather objects to lemaiping in jail until his trial is called, when the mere signing of a bond would give him temporary freedom, at least. The imprisoned editor, who once shouted the praises of the mayor, has discovered that fair-weather political bedfellows are not to be relied upon when he sky becomes dark. It has been suggested that a cross-complaint, alleging breach of promise, might oe an adequate defense.

Report Gives Former City ControUer Lester Holloway Fine Record

WHY PICK ON HOOVER Since no Republican newspaper in America seems courageous enough to come to the front in behalf of Herbert Hoover, it seems, that as usual it is up to the Post-Democrat to fly to the rescue of the under dog. In the first place Hoover is the logical .candidate for president on the Republican ticket next year. Hoover, better than any other man in America, is distinctly the apostle of the old order, and upstarts like Colonel Knox and Alf Landon, who strive to straddle the 1 boss as arch enemies of Roosevelt and the New Deal, are merely faint shadows of the Real Thing. Former President Hoover gave a radio talk one night recently, and he voiced his objections to Roosevelt so forcibly, and with a coverage so complete, that others of the Old Guard should retire from the field. If the Republican party is to stand by the principal avowed by its leaders, that of rejecting every policy advocated by the present national administration, then it would be the height of ingratitude for the grand old party to turn thumbs down on Hoover and cast flirtful eyes in the direction of some other. And besides Mr. Hoover has mathematics in his favor. He promulgates a eleven-point program of rehabilitation. At Indianapolis Monday night Col. Knox came through with a measly four-point proposal. Thus anyone with the slightest aptitude for ciphering can figure it out himself. Hoover wins hands down over Knox with a margin of seven points to spare. The Post-Democrat announces Hoover the winner on points. And we are violating no confidence in asserting that the former President has an unlimited supply of points up his sleeve, ready to be released in the event that some other vain and ambitious person should attempt to raise the bet to three chickens in the pot instead of one. It is doubtful that Governor Landon, the Kansas white hope of the grass root contingent, will get much further than the three point two stage. The betting is on Hoover, who has points to burn and an unlimited supply of imaginary poultry to heave in the pot in the 1936 sweepstakes offering. The first page of the Star was adorned Tuesday by a likeness of Mr. Hoover fanfully facing the camera at the fifteenth anniversary dinner of the Ohio society in New York City. By his side sat Franklin R. Coates, president of the society. Both were looking pleasant, as befits lenshounds, their beaming countenances protruding from vast expanses of shirt-front. But why, in the name of all that is wonderful, did President Coates wear his assafoetida bag outside of his shirt, instead of having it neatly tucked inside, as is the invariable custom in the best of society?

t dUIET, PLEASE Diner—Does your orchestra do any request playing Orchestra Leader—Yes, sir, we play request numbers at almost every meal. Diner—Then will you please play dominoes until I finish my dinner?

Examination By State Board of Accounts Discloses That His Five Years of Public Office Under the Dale Administration Was One of Faithful Stewardship to the People of Muncie; Special Report Shows

All Records Balance.

Final reports on the records and various funds handled in the city controller’s office were filed in the department of the State Board of Accounts on November 6th giving former Controller Lester E. Holloway a clean slate for his five years in public office under the Dale administration. The reports as filed covered examinations of the civil city accounts under supervision of the city controller, the bond and coupon redemption account which is used by the controller to pay city bonded indebtedness, the improvement funds collected by the controller, and the sinking fund commission of which the controller is secretary.

The reports were prepared by Field Examiners Frank Deutch and E. H. Pritchard and covered the year of 1934, ending December 31st. The financial statement disclosed by the examination show a total of receipts into the various funds of the civil city during 1934 to have been $658,888.77. The balance in these funds at the beginning of last year amounted to $33,211.92. The disbursements from the general fund, the park fund, the gasoline, city planning, sinking and aviation fads totalled $689,040.79. The remaining balance in these funds at the close of the year amounted to $2,559.90, which corresponds with the remaining balance of these funds as kept by

the city treasurer.

Special Report.

ROUST IN MUNCIE

Outlaws lave Everything Their Own Way in Our Peaceful Little Village

* A Canadian farmer after months of training, succeeded in breaking a pair of short horn calves to work to harness, so we are told, all of which reminds us, that when a farmer in this country tries to break a pair of calves to work in harness, he is often “honored” into

a divorce court.

j There is nothing the average woman loves to talk about so much as her “operation,” except, of course, it is to explain how she dangled in mid-air on a pair of forceps in the hands of the dentist

who extracted her teeth.

A special report <was attached to u took Ex . President Hoover six an i. When Dr.

Whi four years as PrWideni. the ma and two years after he quit the pleadings in the latest D. C. Steph

White House, to discover that there were “eleven points”, he might have used to stamp out the depression, had he remembered to

use them.

fhat all records were in balance at the close of the year and that all records were properly kept. The bond and coupon redemption account as examined showed the retirement of city bonds in the ^amount of $43,50(1 during 1934, the :payment of interest coupons totalling $11,538.16 for the same period of time, and" the disbursement of $20.58 for interest on delinquentt bonds. The balance as reported in this fund ijy the examination amounted to,* $1,680.38 which was reconciled b^ cash in the banks. This report lists the oustanding bonded indebtedness of the civil city as of December 31, 1934 at

$29,485.01.

Examination of the Improvement (Continued Qn Page Six)

Attorney-General I Three Stick-Ups, One Hit and Run Killer and One Rapist Do ( Their Stuff and Get Away As Usual—Bandit Working in Daylight Uses Sawed-Off Shot Gun in Loan

Company Office.

The reign of terror continues unabated in Muncie. A stick-up bandit invaded two homes Tuesday night and a yegg with a sawed-off shotgun, pulled a wild west performance in a loan office Thursday afternoon. Thursday night a white woman was raped in Whitely by an unknown negro, accord-

ing to police reports.

One nierht early in the week a hit and run driver ran over a boy on West Twelfth street and the youth is hovering be-

tween life and death in the hospital.

As seems to be the invariable case of late, the offenders

were not apprehended by the police.

Stick ’Em Up! —

ing about 50 years of age

PHILIP LUTZ, Jr.

Whenever the State of Indiana gets tangled up in a law-suit or any state officer wants to know the meaning of the law, Philip Lutz, Jr., attorney general, is the man who is called upon. He is the legal counsellor for every stg^e official and department and with

Ministers of the Gospel are beginning to complain, that many of the prayers offered up in church these days, are to “Father Townsend,” requesting him to send them

200 “bucks” a month.

Mark Twain was until recently, the greatest humoritsts the world has ever known. Then along i comes Ex-President Hoover with 1 his “eleven” jokes and thirteen puns, and everybody is doing a

(Continued On Page Six)

enson case or defense of orders of the various state boards and commissions, Mr. Lutz must he prepared to serve without prospect of a handsome fee. Sometimes it is the liquor law, again the banking law, then public service commission orders or industrial hoard rules. Before a law is passed, th 0 Governor checks with the Attorney general to see whether the proposal is constitutional. There’s no end to the jobs this state officer is given to perform. But Mr. Lutz ie equal to the task. He is a native of Boonville and a graduate of tt\e Indiana University School of Law.

(Continued On Page Six)

City Hall Crowd Drives to Wells Co. For John Gubbins

Broke Up Hunting Party to High-Pressure the Governor’s Secretary — Bob Parkinson Gets a Quail Up His Pants Leg—Dogs

Didn’t Like the Disturbance.

The executive secretary of Governor McNutt went hunting one day last week. He was accompanied by the state chairman of the Democratic party. Wells county was chosen as the hunting grounds of the Democratic cogs in the politi-

cal wheel of the Hoosier state.

Pleas Greenlee and Omer Jackson wanted to get away from the grind of listening to commands, demands, requests and sobs, for one day at least, and shoot to their hearts’ content, and in any direction they pleased, without running the chance of filling some job seeker’s hide with chilled shot.

Made a Mistake But they made tne mistake of driving through Muncie on their way to Wells county. Vigilant sleuths reported that they had passed through without nodding in the direction of the city had and a pursuit squad was soon or-

ganized.

For the moment such relatively unimportant matters as payroll shortage, intercepting sewers, city planning and street widening were forgotten. John Gubbins wanted a wholesale permit to sell beer in Delaware county, so the city hall was evacuated and the hunters became the hunted.

Two

TheRoll of Honor automobiles were

soon

Wells county. Those occupying the cars were: Mayor Rollin H. Bunch. City Controller Hubert L. Parkinson. City Clerk Linton Ridgeway. City Engineer Arthur K. Meeker. Chief of Police Frank Massey. State Representative Fred Rowley. County Chairman Earl Tuhey. Chief Massey knew the “lay of the ground” in Wells county, and being the only real hunter in the crowd was recruited somewhat unwillingly, it is reported, to lead the soldiers to the happy hunting grounds. Greenlee and his party, peace-

dashing madly in the direction of fully tramping the fields behind a

brace of well trained bird dogs, had no thought oi rude interruption. “There she blows^” whispered one of the hunters as the dogs stopped on dead", point.” The hunters moved up quietly, as hunters will, with the intention of wading into the covey and firing at the winged lightning on the getaway. Just then soim body glanced around. A group of determined men were madly rushing toward them. Dogs Will Be Dogs The dogs looked annoyed, as dogs will at such tense moments, when they are rudely interrupted while working honestly at their trade. x The invaders were moving so rapidly that they ran over the dogs and came to a halt in the exact center of the covey of quails. The birds promptly went away from here—all but one, which carelessly flew up Bob Parkinson’s pants leg and died of grief and humiliation. The pursuit sqaud then came to a steady “point” on Pleas Greenlee, and a mighty voice boomed out these words or words to their broad general effect: “You are gazing on the Democratic party of Muncie and Delaware County and Democracy and the New Deal will stutter, stagger and fall if John Gubbins doesn't get a beer license. So what?” His Day Off Sorry, but this is my day off, (Continued On Page Six)

AUTO LICENSE PLATES GO ON SALE DEC. 9TH District Meetings Will be Held For Instruction Purposes.

Indianapolis, lad., Nov. 20.—Automobile license plates foi 1936 will go on sale at all license bureau branches December 9, according to announcement today by Frank Finney, comissioner of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Preparatory to sale, a series of district meetings a ill be held for the purpose of instructing bureau managers on the Acts of the 1935 general assembly, and on procedure under the new system installed in the auto license department. The meetings will ’he attended by Mr. Finney, Haliie Myers, hearing judge; Ben Friedman, title clerk, and the three field auditors of the bureau. “These meetings are being heh for the benefit of patrons in order that our record of prompt and courteous service shall be speeded up this year,” Mr. Finney said. He pointed out Lie effect of several new laws and said chat bureau managers would be fully in structed on the provisions of these laws. “Applications will be mailed to patrons as last year, and they are urged to take prompt action to obtain license plates, as December 31 will be the last day on which 1935 plates may he used,” Finney said. Dates for district meetings are as follows: Indianapolis, Frida)', November 15; Ft. Wayne, Monday November 18; LaPorte. Tuesday, November 19; Logansport, Wednesday, November 20; Madison, Monday, November 25; Jasper, Tuesday, November 26, and Bloomfield, Wednesday, November 27.

Tuesday night shortly before 10 , o’clock a short, heavy set bandit j knocked at the front door of the j home of Raymond Jolly, 30 Orchard Place. Mr. Jolly opened the door and slammed it suddenly shut when the intruder pointed a

pistol at him.

Mr. Jolly grabbed a wicker basket and slammed it through the glass in the upper part of the door and the bandit retreated. About a half hour later a man of the same description knocked at the front door of the home of Dr. Watt N. Shroyer, dentist, 305 Ashland Ave.

Shroyer opened the

hint 'with/ r.

45 automatic. Shroyer steppqd l^ck in the living room where his father-in-law, D. E. Hausknecht

was sitting.

Still pointing his pistol the bandit searched his victims and secured a wallet containing $80. The outlaw then backed away and disappeared. The robbery was reported at once to police headquarters, hut it remains one more unsolved

mystery.

Sawed Off Shotgun About 4:45 Thursday afternoon a bandit answering a description wholly different from the fast workers operating here lately entered the office of the Indiana Loan Company, 357 Johnson block, and leveling a sawed off shotgun at Donald G. Smith, demanded $1,000. Bert Work, manager, sitting at his desk in an inner office, heard the demand and stepped out. Just then two customers entered the front office and the would-be robber lost his nerve and skipped

out.

The man was believed to be an amateur. He was described as be-

and

heavy set. He probably needed a little Christmas money and reading how easy it is to get it here at the point of a gun, started out |o emulate the example of the long man and the short man. The police seem to be perfectly helpless in the face of the most impudent and flagrant exhibitions of lawlessness and all-around thuggery in the history of the city. People do not feel safe in their homes and business men do not know what hour of the day or night they may find themselves looking into the muzzle of a cannon. Bloodthirsty Editor An ambattled Muncie edUui, commenting on the situation, advises the victims to shoot to kill. It’s a comparatively safe matter to shoot with a typewriter, hut shooting a gunman who has the drop on you is an entirely different matter. Therefore the Post-Democrat hardly endorses this gory solution of what is really a serious matter. Muncie is hiring a mayor and a police force to do their shootin.; for them. We have the largest force of policemen of any city of our size in the state of Indiana, hut crime seems to increase along with the increase in the number of cops. There are some here wno have the audacity to insist that it is more important to protect ’ the homes, he lives and the property of Muncie citizens than it is to use the entire strength of the city administration to see that some fellow gets to sell beer. “Gee whiz,” remarked one citizen, “if the crowd I saw lighting out for Wells county one day last (Continued On Page Six)

CITY BUYS ANOTHER PARK The public is somewhat counfused concerning the reported purchase, by the^city, of thirteen acres of land in the southwest part of the city, for park purposes. According to the published announcement, the land was purchased of Joe Meredith, the price being $5,200. It was stated that the city paid $1,000 down and gave a mortgage for the balance and that the Whitely fund was drawn upon to make the down payment. There is no record in the auditor’s office of a transfer of the land to the city nor is any statement forthcoming as to the course of procedure that was followed authorizing the city to execute a mortgage on real estate for land to be used for park purposes. In the absence of definite information it is assumed that the balance due will be met and the deferred payments made by using the income from the securities held in trust through the terms of the will of the late Burt Whitely, to liquidate the indebtedness. The Whitely will named the People’s Trust company as the trustee, but when that institution passed on, the obligation was transferred to the Delaware County National Bank, which closed in 1933 when the President declared a bank holiday, and failed to reopen. The securities and the administration of the trust then went in the hands of the Merchants National bank. The will gives the city no control or ownership whatever over the securities but the interest, payable semi-annually, is given to the park board, in perpetuity, to be used for certain clearly defined purposes, with the stipulation that the expenditures shall be made for any purpose already defined by budgetary provisions. The will sets forth that the donor desired the money to be spent for such park improvements as zoological specimens, horticultural additions, recreational equipment, or “for any other purpose” necessary in the eyes of the park board. The will says nothing whatever about the money being spent for the acquisition of park lands, and it is probable that nothing was farther from the mind of the late Mr. Whitely than the thought of an additional real estate investment when he wrote the will. It seems however that the words “for any other purpose” have been construed literally. The semi-annual interest payments are about $750 each, payable January 1 and July 1, thus in about three years, if the Whitely securities retain their earning power, the new “park” will be paid for. * ...... It will be remembered that the Hampton administration bought “park” land on Jackson street, just west of the bridge, which set the city back $15,000 for an unsightly bunch of old shacks that were/ evaluated for taxation purposes at $2,150.