Indianapolis Times, Volume 35, Number 230, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 February 1923 — Page 3

FEB. 3, 1923

GARY CONSPIRACY CASE IS SEE FOR TKIALJARCH 14 Prosecution Loses Point When Judge Sustains Demurrer on Strong Count, Dismissal of the fifth count of the Indictment In the Gary liquor conspiracy cases pending in Federal Court will not cripple the Government’s case. Homer Elliott, l nited States district attorney, said today. Ho said that all evidence gathered in tfct case can be presented under the other counts of the indictment. Rumors of breaks in the ranks of the sixty-six defendants entering pleas of not gulty were current today. Two defendants will change their pleas to guijty at the first opportunity, according to stories in circulation. Trials will start March 14 before Judge Anderson in Federal Court. Os the seventy-five indicted, sixty-six entered pleas of not guilty Friday, one, Mike Drakulich of Indiana Harbor, pleaded gtiilty, and eight have not been arrested. The prosecution was believed to have received a severe blow when Judge Anderson sustained <i %urrers to the fifth count of the indictment, charging the defendants conspired to commit fraud against the Government by building up a corrupt political machine to prevent law enforcement. It was said It was upon this count that Homer Elliott, United States district attorney, relied to get convictions against Roswell O. Johnson, Gary mayor, and other Gary and Lake County officials. Demurrers to the first four counts, charging conspiracy to transport, sell and manufacture liquor and main tain nuisances were overruled. It Is upon these counts that the defendants will be tried.

SCHOOLS FACED BY MONEY LIMIT Another Blow Dealt Board in Durham Bill, The Indianapolis school hoard has received another blow. Passage of the Durham bill limiting the bonded indebtedness of taxing units to \\ per cent of the valuation of taxable property would make It Impossible for the school city to borrow any more money except on petition of 10 per cent of the taxpayers, according to Walter Twiname, bust ness manager of the board. The present bonded limit is 2 per cent of taxable valuation. The bill has been passed by the Senate but not by the House. An effort to have the Senate reconsider will be made Monday by Sen ator Winfield Miller, who said he had discovered he had been recorded as voting for the measure, whereas he opposed it. It has been reported numerous taxing units would be unable to assume any more indebtedness should the bill become a law. ROAD MATERIALS CENTEROF FIGHT Manufacturers of road materials, State engineers and county officials were organizing today for a fight next week over a bill introduced in the House Friday by James L. Day proposing that not more than 30 per cent of State road contracts shall be for the same hard surface material. Manufacturers of hard-surface materials other than concrete are behind the measure, and charge that the highway department has discriminated In favor of concrete. The bill provides that bids for paving State roads must be received in five materials. Engineers Interested in highway construction materials are reported divided in opinions as to the best material Members of the State highway commission said there was no discrimination for concrete, bids for that material being accepted because of comparatively low cost. COUZENS BESIEGED BY RAILEXPERTS By JOHN CARSON Times Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON. Feb. 3.—Any one with some real information and real ideas on the railroad problem of the United States, Is hereby invited to shoot it along to Senator James Couzens of Michigan. Couzens wants to know all about railroading. He says he has much to learn. When Couzens made its first statement that it seemed “Government ownership of railroads was coming and coming fast,” he got more attention than has been given a Senator for many months. Immediately he began to receive Information and suggestions. When he made his second statement on the subject, the students of transportation rushed to him. The result Is today that Couzens is getting in close touch with the best informed men in the country on railroads. Men high up in the legal profession; men with standing as economists, farm leadei-s and labor leaders are seeking him out. To all of them Couzens lends ear. If he does take any step to solve the transportation problem, he will admit that he is offering only the combined judgment of a whole coterie of informants.

Western Union Telephone Recorder Is ‘Buffer’for Humanity’s Nerves

V fwf jl' m in MISS JUN E VINSON

■S'! j ITH her finger on the pulse of human sympathies. Miss June * ” Vinson, 647 W. Thirtieth St., sits at her desk in the Western Union building day after day. She is a telephone recorder. From her lips, through the telephone mouth- j piece attached to a headpiece, go messages of joy and sorrow to all parts of the city. She also takes tidings to be 3ent all over the world. She is the “buffer” for hundreds of human emotions. She gets, full force, the curses (oh yes, they do It) of the father who hears of his daughter's elopement; the happy story of the mother who learns of the birth of her first grandson: the lambasting of the T. B. M. who is called out of bed after midnight to hear a trivial message. But If it were not sent until the next morning, ho would complain.) Let Miss Vinson tell her views after five years as a telephone recorder: “Men are easier to take messages from than women, because they speak more distinctly. Women are easier to give them to, because they are murt patient.

UE Os LLOID GEORGE (Continued From I’age 1) ness, especially amongst friends. Strangers expect it and prepare for it, and there is no resentment when the bill arrives. But a man hates reminding his friend at the end of business in which both have been engaged in warm amity that 4;here is “ a little balance ” to be paid up. He has been expecting his friend to mention the matter to him, so he puts off introducing the unpleasant topic from year to year. But the friend disappoints his expectations. Not a hint comes from that quarter of any realization that there is anything due. Tt soon looks as if it had been forgotten altogether. The friend is most insistent on collecting business accounts due to himself. lie is angry at all delays in the payment of his own bills, but his conscience is blind on the side of the debts he himself owes. Debtors Are Reluctant. It is not an uncommon experience, and wo are suffering from it today. The war left us a creditor nation to the extent of over 2,000 million pounds, and a debtor nation to the extent of about half that amount. We readily accepted an invitation from our creditor to discuss repayment of the debt we owe. Our debtors displayed a ninvincible reluctance to entor a similar discussion with us. That ought not to influence our action. Britain is the greatest of all international traders, and her credit rests on the reputation she well earned that her bond is a sacred trust which her people always honor and redeem without counting the cost in toil and treasure. I remember when war broke out the panic which seized bankers and brokers as they contemplated the obligations incurred by British firms, with their support, to finance world trade. These liabilities ran into a hundred millions sterling and the only security for repayment was represented by a bundle of flimsy paper criss-crossed with the signatures of men, most of whom no British banker had ever seen, many of them dwelling in countries with whom we were actually at war. There was one signature, however, on each paper which was ! known to the bankers and carried with it the good name of Britain throughout the world, and it was that of some well-known British firm. Traders in far-distant lands parted with their produce on the credit of that signature and of the country with which it was associated. It is true that the Government had no responsibility for any of these transactions, but the honor of Britain was involved in seeing that foreign merchants should not suffer ruin because they put their trust in British commercial integrity. For that reason the British Government of the day shouldered j the burden and took all the risk, and although it meant a liability between four hundred and five hundred million sterling not a voice was raised in protest. The action then taken, though quite unprecedented, was not only honorable. It was wise. It saved British pride from reproach, it also saved British credit- from a blow from which it would not recover for a generation. During that generation this lucrative business would have passed into other hands. As soon as the war was over the people of Britain, with an instinctive impulse that required no persuasion to stimulate its activity, set about the task of restoring war-battered credit. The Government, bankers, merchants, brokers, manufactur-

"There are many more messages that bring happiness this year than in the past few years; conditions are getitng better. "Between 5 and 10 per cent of our messages carry gloom, About 15 per cent are social messages; the rest, business. “People use the telegraph for many unique purposes. Sometimes invita tions to an impromptu party are sent to persons in the city. "Around April Fool day we have many funny messages. “Once in a while the recipient of a message starts to tell the whole history of the case. We just have to listen. “It affects me almost as much as the one who gets the message when a death is made known. We try not to give such messages over the telephone. but to have them delivered by messenger. • I handle between thirty-five and l.fty messages an hour. I suppose I know people's hearts pretty well by this time.”

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

ers and workers of all kinds were of one mind. Borrowing must come to an end. Britain must pay her way—whatever the sacrifices. Expenditures Cut Down. Expenditure was ruthlessly cut down. The army and navy were reduced below pre-war dimensions. Other services were curtailed. Heavy taxation was imposed, taxation such as no other country bears. The budget at home must balance. Debts to other countries must be paid off. Already large sums have been paid abroad. It required courage and constancy to pursue such a policy, but the endurance of the nation was beyond praise. It is now calmly facing liquidation of this heavy debt to the United States. But no party has yet arisen, or is likely to arise, to demand that the hand of the negotiators should be arrested. Britain means to pay the last of her debts without murmur. We are already reaping some of the reward. The purchjsing value of our currency already has risen under its burdens and as a consequence the cost of living has fallen steadily, while other countries who pursued a different policy find the cost of living for their people ascending month by month. A short time ago we were taunted in tho French Chamber of Deputies by the president of tho council that our unsound financial policy had been responsible for our unemployment. It is true that if we had goho on borrowing instead of paying our way—■ if we had defied our foreign creditors instead of paying them—we also, like many other European countries, might have fostered an artificial prosperity by means of discredited currency. But British credit would have rapidly disappeared beyond recovery and British trade would soon have followed. Meanwhile the cost of living in Great Britain would have been double what it is today. We therefore dismissed that policy from our minds without paying it the tribute of discussion. Trust is the only soil in which credit flourishes. Had that trust been forfeited British buyers, and consequently British consumers would today have been paying more for their wheat, their meat, their cotton and their wool. I hazard no opinion as to the percentage at which the terms of repayment to the United States will ultimately be fixed. But whatever the figure, the burden will be infinitely

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ASSEMBLY IN BRIEF

SENATE These bills were introduced in the Senate Friday; No. 268 (Adams) —Providing for appointment of assistant county highway superintendents. Roads. No. 269 (Hays)—Removing requirements by which plans and specifications for new school houses must be submitted to State board of health. County and township. No. 270 (Henley)—Providing for installation of crossing gates and safety devices at railroad grade crossings. Railroads. No. 271 (King-Hartzell-Holmes-Harmon) —To repeal the teachers’ fund law. Education. No. 272 (Leonard) —Providing for referendum of local voters to decide question of constructing new school house. Roads. Fresh Water in Lakes No. 273 (Leonard) —Amending laws to preserve fresh waters in Indiana lakes by prohibiting ditches within 240 rods of laks. Natural resources. No. 274 (Penrod) —Abolishing office of Supreme Court reporter, and placing duties with clerk of Supreme Court. Judiciary A. No. 275 (Hartzell) —Amending laws proriding when court shall appoint a receiver. Judiciary B This bill was killed in the Senate Friday: No. 109 (Holmeß) —To nullify charters of corporations failing to file reports with secretary of State after three years. (22-24.) This joint resolution was killed in the Senate Friday: No. 1 (English)—To amend the Constitution to make amending tho Constitution easier. (28-16.) Twelve Measures Passed These bills were passed in the Senate Friday: No. 103 (Cleveland-Perkins) —Providing for aid from civil city to school city in South Bend. 143-0.) No. 116 (Hartzell) —Providing immunity to certain witnesses from testifying in antitrust cases on recommendation of attorney general. (29-1.) No 119 (Hodges)—Providing for track elevation in Gary. (34-0.)

less than that of the indirect burden involved in large purchases with a discredited currency. The Government is therefore right in arranging with the American treasury without loss of time for the liquidation of a dept incurred by this country. Why it was incurred, the circumstances in which it was entered into, the purposes for which the money was advanced are all matters which the American Government, no doubt, considered in arranging tho terms of repayment. That was their privilege. Ours, to honor our signature. D. LLOYD GEORGE.

No. 136 (Henley)—Authorizing trustees of Indiana University to issue $200,000 in bonds for Robert W. Long Hospital. (34-0.) No. 150 (Henley)—Providing for codification of all city laws. (34-0.) No. 153 (Hodges)—Providing for assessment of costs of street lights against property owners of cities of certain classes. (36-0.) No. 154 (Holmes) —Increasing reqnirements for embalmers and requiring license fee. and examination of undertakers. (30-13.) Visiting Committee No. 141 (Cravens) —Restoring legislative visiting committee of four members, at salary of $4 a day while working. (40-0.) No. 167 (Daily)—Authorizing school boards to make purchases not exceeding S2OO without advertising for bids. (37-0.) No. 169 (Adams) —Providing ior method of selecting special judges in criminal cases, by appointment by court. (S6-1.) No. 179 (King)—Legalizing payment and collection of certain school bonds in Grant County. (36-3.) No. 175 (Durham) —Limiting bonded indebtedness of muntctpal corporations to 1 per cent of taxable property. (26-15.) HOUSE These bills were introduced in the House Friday: No. 309 (Larrabee)—Equalizes salary of members of county board of review during twenty-eight day session. Judiciary A. No. 3io (Larrabee) —Gives incorporated towns right to own and operate water and light plants, free from control of public service commission. Corporations. No. 311 (Davis) —Amends law on allowances for burial of dead soldiers. Soldiers. No. 312 (Schwartz-Perkins) —Amends workmen's compensation act of 1915. Judiciary A. Agricultural Agent No. 313 (Matthews-Jackson) —Provides for > employment of county agricultural agent on petition of twenty citizens and approval of county council. Education. No. 314 (Punshon)—Provides for eighthour working day for Evansville police. Cities ar.d towns. No. 315 (Carter) —Prohibits court action

against assets not listed formerly as taxables. Judiciary B. No. 316 (Phillips)—Grants notarial powers to mayors. Judiciary A. No. 317 (Day)—Requires State highway commission to submit specifications for at least five types of basic road structure, and that not more than 33 1-3 per cent of roads constructed for commission shall be of one material. Roads. Six Bills Postponed The following; House bills were Indefinitely postponed by the House: No. 119 (Leveron) —Allowed members of township board $5 for each annual or special meeting attended. County and township business. No. 176 (Hurty)—Provided for re-estab-lishment of State board of health and appointment of county and city all-time health officers. State medicine and public health. No. 212 (Day)—Provided for appointment of justices of the peace to serve in absence of regular justices. County and township business. No. 271 i Rainey)—Established State preparatory school of domestic arts for colored -ris. ,-frying $25,000 appropriation for site. Education. No. 272 (Johnson of Monroe) —Gave custodian of county buildings police power. County and township business. No. 267 (Leveron) —Fixed salaries of county coimcilmen at $25 to S4O. County and township business. No. 292 (Bierly)—Abolished attendance officers in counties of 20,000 population or less. Education. Withdrawn and Killed The following House bills were withdrawn: No. 248 (Shafer)—Abolished office of Supreme Court reporter, transferring duties to clerk. No. 49 (Day)-—Reconsidered after passage and withdrawn in favor of an identical Senate bill. The following House bill w&s killed; No. 228 (Johnson of Monroe)—Placed Greok-letter fraternities on list of taxables. The following Senate bill was passed by the House: No. 9 (Holmes)—Called for recording of conveyances and mortgages. The following House bill was passed by the House: No. 190 (Smith) —Prohibits action to foreclose liens for street sidewalks and sewer assessments which is begun more than five years from time right of assessment accrues, except where assessments are payable in installments, when action may be brought within fiiteen years

IJEAD COLDS I | Melt in spoon; inhale rapews: 3 S apply freely up nostrils. V A? Ocer 17 Million Jan Used Yearly

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