Indianapolis Times, Volume 36, Number 2, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 May 1924 — Page 4

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The Indianapolis Times EARLE E. MARTIN, Editor-in-Chief ROY W. HOWARD. President ALBERT W. BUHRMAN, Editor WM. A. MAYBORN, Bus. Mgr. Member of the Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance * * ‘Client of the United Press, the NEA Service and the Scripps-Paine Service. * * • Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations. . Published daily except Sunday by Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos.. 214-220 W Maryland St., Indianapolis * * * Subscription Rates: Indianapolis—Ten Cents a Week. Elsewhere—Twelve Cents a Week. • * * PHONE—MAIN 3500.

THE POOR FARM BUILDING SHE controversy over the new building at the Marion County poor farm has reached the “buck passing” stage. The contractors declare that the trouble with the building is that the specifications were wrong. Others are blaming the contractors. The fact remains that the building in its present condition is not fit for human habitation. The contractors say they are making repairs of large cracks in the walls, cracks in the floors and numerous other flaws. But they declare the specifications did not call for plastering the inside walls, nor for windows that could be screened, nor for numerous other things necessary to make the building habitable. It would appear that these thugs are the fault of the commissioners who accepted the specifications. Talk will not put the building in condition to become living quarters. Action is needed. Putting the building in shape probably will cost the taxpayers a tidy sum in addition to that already appropriated. But, even so, county officials should not be permitted to house human beings in a building that would not be accepted by the State for a barn at the fairgrounds. NORTH CAROLINA KNOWS xt ORTH CAROLINA does not have to guess at the effect of IN income tax publicity. It knows by experience and North Carolina's experience should be of value to the citizens of other States. * Editor Josephus Daniels, in his Raleigh News and Observer. tells the story thus: “Something like twenty years ago, when the income tax was adopted in North Carolina, the News and Observer published the list of the incomes given in by the Wake County taxpayers. The next year the amounts of the income listed for taxation increased very much. Publicity did it. What happened then? A provision was slipped through the Legislature making it a violation of the law to disclose or publish the amounts of income listed for taxation. It was slipped through to please the bix taxpayers. What happened? The amount of income tax decreased.” With secrecy in income tax returns as well as in income tax refunds and settlements and with presidential campaigns costing from $5,000,000 to $8,000,000. every possible facility is offered both for corrupting the public service, corrupting the political parties and corrupting the taxpayers themselves. Publicity of tax returns will dry up at least one source of campaign boodle. Hence, perhaps, the wails from the professional politicians, when the subject is mentioned.

WHAT’S THE USE, PEARL? { -w OUR real scientist will not permit a doad past to bury | * i its dead. He absolutely will not. The deader the past, the more vigorously does the expert delver seek to keep it from its grave. There’s Dr. Raymond Pearl of Johns Hopkins University, as an instance. He bobbed up before the National Academy of Sciences the other day with a lot of figures and on the ancient question of the effect of alcoholic beverages on the human system. Remember how they used to go after the pros and cons of that subject ’way back yonder? Well, Pearl is at it again. “Steady drinkers,” says Pearl, “have better expectations of life at all ages from 30 on to the end of life than do> total abstainers.” And he reveals tables to prove it—tables based on the “drinking habit of thousands of persons throughout their lives and covering more than 150,000 person-years exposure to risk.” - Powerful—eh? Well, he goes further. “Heavy drinkers,” he says, “have the poorest expectation of life at all ages after 30 in the case of females, and at all ages after and up to about 65 in the case of males. From about 65 on the heavy drinking males and the total abstaining males have about the fceme expectation.” So, the moderate, steady drinker, according to Pearl, has the greatest expectation of long life, and the heavy drinker and the total abstainer are about equal in prospects and chances. But, what’s the use of all these figures and facts now? What’s Pearl casting before us? He is dallying with a dead past, and promising nothing that gets any one anywhere. There are no light or heavy drinkers hereabouts in these days —that is, fflive. There is no liquor now that has anything whatever to do with life, but there is a lot of it that has much to do with death. Pearl may be right in deduction, but the time is wrong. This is another, if not better, day. THE usual number of boats in the immediate offing caused one paper there to refer to them as the Boston Bay rum fleet, which is grossly misleading. There isn’t a drop of bay rum on board.

Who’ll Be the Next President?

The votoers will decide that in November? Not so; they’ll only choose between the candidates picked by the national conventions of the great parties in June. Do you know how a President is nominated? Do you know the origin of political party conventions? How are the delegates to these conventions chosen? How many are there? Who chooses the national party committees? How are contests settled? Which States choose by primary, which by conventions, which by other means? How do the delegations vote in the conventions? How is a party convention organized? Who chooses the temporary officers? How is a party convention organized? Who chooses

POLITICAL EDITOR, Washington Bureau The Indianapolis Times, 1322 New York Ave.. Washington, D. C. I want a copy of the bulletin PARTY CONVENTIONS AND PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, and enclose here with 5 cents in loose postage stamps for same: Name • St. and No. or R. R . ... „ City State ...........

the temporary officers? How are the permanent officers chosen? How is the platform written? How are the candidates nominated? You’ll be reading thousands of words about the national party conventions between now and the time they adjourn in June; will you understand everything you are reading about? Our Washington bureau has prepared an eight-page printed bulletin on the national party conventions and the presidential campaign, which explains the whole machinery of the nomination of a President, the writing of a platform and the conduct of a campaign. If you want the inside stuff on how these things are done, fill out and send the coupon below to our Washington bureau, as directed:

BROTHERS OWNERS OF 8 RAILROADS Besides, They Are Building New Cleveland Union Station, By XEA Service C' - "—-J LEVELAND, May 13.—Oris P. and Mantis J. Van Swer- ■... ingen control eight railroads and now are negotiating for a ninth. Their lines are capitalized at half a billion. They are young and hard working. But they successfully manage to keep out of the limelight. They despise all publicity. They can’t understand why people are interested in them. Social functions bore them. And women—well, they never seemed to have crossed the path of the Van Sweringen brothers. At 44 and 42, O. P. and M. J. still are bachelors. Neither has revealed any intentions of marrying. When friends gather at their home, one plays the piano while the other pours lemonade, and the guests—particularly if women—are left to entertain themselves. Building Apartment Besides running their railroads, the Van Sweringen boys right now are: Building Cleveland's new $60,000.000 union station. Proceeding with the construction of a $30,000,000 English villa apartment house in Shaker Heights, one of Cleveland’s most exclusive suburbs. And around Shaker Heights hinges the story of this modem business romance. The Van Sweringens came here from Geneva, Ohio, farmer boys. They sold papers while going to school. Eater they got jobs in offices. One Sunday, while both were working in real estate offices, they walked out into the “country." They became interested in the hilly section, through which ran a myriad of small lakes, just south of the city. First they borrowed enough to buy a few lots. Then they succeeded in scraping up enough credit for

ABOVE—FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: M. J. VAN SWERINGEN; CLEVELAND’S NEW $50,000,000 UNION DEPOT; O. P. VAN SWERINGEN. BELOW—ROUTE OF VAN SWERINGEN LINES, IF PROPOSED MERGER WITH ERIE IS CONSUMMATED.

2,000 acres. Shaker Heights beg;n to boom. But they saw they must have suitable transportation facilities if folks were to be induced to move | out there. They went to the Cleveland Railway Company and asked it to extend its tracks. The railway company refused. Built Traction Line The Van Sweringens built their own traction line. To get a mile of trackage they needed to complete their right-of-way, they bought the Nickel Plate Railroad from the Vanderbilt interests for a price said to have been $8,500,000. The Nickel Plate, as a separate entity, showed no great possibilities as a money maker. But with two feed lines, the Clover L eaf and the Lake Erip &- Western, tapping a rich agricultural and industrial territory, it became a gold mine. So the Van Sweringens bought both roads. The Nickel Plate had no Atlantic I seaboard outlet and also lacked powj era as a coal carrier. So the Van ! Sweringens figured they needed the j Chesapeake & Ohio. Accordingly, they bought it, too. They interested other railroads and started to build anew union station. Now', according to reports which they do not deny, they are dickering for the purchase of the Erie Railroad. Musicland Robert Schumann’s father was a book-seller and his mother the daughter of a physician. Robert started to compose when 7 years old. I Later, he took up the study of law, | but his musical interest so overj balanced his studies tka-t, he forsook I the former and decided to become a I musician. When one of his fingers was permanently injured by overj practice, he took to composing. He ; married the daughter of his old teacher, much to the displeasure of j her father. He made many concert tours withr his wife, who was a celebrated pianist. The last years of Schumann’s life were darkened by melancholia, and wild eccentricities which finally led to an attempt of suicide. His last two years were spent in a sanitarium, where he wrote some, in his sane moments. He died at 45 years of age.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Tax Bill By Vn'tCd Press WASHINGTON, May 13Interest here now centers in what “Cautious Cal” will do when the tax bill, providing for surtax rates bitterly opposed by Mellon and objected to by Coolidgo, reaches the White House. v If he vetoes it. there will be no tax reduction from this session of Congress: none that will apply to this year's taxes. That might be a big factor in the coming campaign. If he signs it, it will be as a temporary bill to run until, if elected, he can propose another.

Don’t Give In By HAL COCHRAN If you’re feelin’ kinda sleepy, an’ are lazy as kin be, an’ your bones feel sorta creepy—make you wiggly at the knee; an’ you got a task before yoif: though more tired you’ve never been, just grit your teeth and bristle up-—go to it, don’t give in. If nothin’ seems to suit you an’ just everything Is wrong and the feelin’ that’s about you makes the day seem awful long; be an optimist —consider how much worse it might have been brace up, forget your troubles and go to it, don’t give in. If your weary hope is sinking when the last straw seems to fail, as you’ve tried again at plugging but it’s all to no avail; if perplexities keep pressing and your prospect light is thin, then’s the time to force ambition and go to it —don’t give in. If just about this time you feel a little ray of light, that makes 'you keep on feelin’ that you’ll plug with all your might, across your face there breaks a smile and over you begin, for you have found the rule is good—Go to it. don't give in. (Copyright, 1924, NEA Service. Inc.) A Thought Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart; so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.— Prov. 27:9. • • • Friendship Is the wine of life.— Young.

Tom Sims Says: The dollars that run the Government also run the taxpayers. Boston man thinks his wife kisses other men, so is asking for a divorce Instead of feeding her onions. Very few boys are as bad as the neighbors think or as good as their parents think. Not so long ago every man who blossomed out in a checkered suit in the spring was considered a gambler. Many of us live expensively to impress our friends who live expensively to impress us. So live that when the time comes you can retire instead of just giving up. Common sense is all that makes a college education valuable. Chinese bandits have captured a town, but we will worry about the weather Instead, because the weather is much nearer. Stand on your own rights and you can’t be told where to get off. Family Fun Working at It Two well-known actors were playing golf and every stroke proclaimed that they were novices at the game. Several fair-sized pieces of turf had been sent skyward, and when one unusually large piece departed from its native soil one of the accompanying caddies turned to the other and whispered: “Did yer tell me they were actors, Bill?” “Yes,” answered the other. “Well,” was the reply, “all I can say is, they ough to be scene shifters.”—Agonaut. Her Dad Won Over "Hu, my sweetest own! I did win your father’s great heart at last.” “Oh, joy! Are you sure of it, lover?” “Cinched, darling. He selected this honeymoon train for us and this railroad pamphlet says there are five (tunnels each a mile long ahead.* 4

TAMMANY IN MOVE TO ‘ANNEX’U.S. New York Democratic Body Seeks to Put Over Al Smith. Editor's Note—This is the first of five articles by Lowell Mellett. of The Indianapolis Times Washington staff, who has just finished a study of the Tammany machine and its ways. By LOWELL MELLETT m AMMAN y HALL, which, with only occasional interruptions, has ruled America’s largest city for 125 years, is now seriously thinking of annexing the rest of our broad land. Tammany proposes to make one of its owm sons President of the United States. This high resolve has been reached rather by accident. It results from the amazing personal popularity of this particular Tammany product. His popularity is as amazing to Tammany Hall as to any one, for Tammany has not been accustomed to see its sons grow’ in popularity when tried in public office. Here is one, however, who lias survived public service in the city and in the State, including two terms as Governor, and who gets bigger, in the people’s estimation, year by .year. Siyith Makes Friends It began to look as much as four four years ago that Governor Alfred E. Smith had become very important to Tammany Hall. He had the gift of making friends, the one most essential for a Tamany man. But the beginning of the present year it was agreed that he w'as Tammany’s fereatest single asset. Indeed, there was a feeling that he was growing too big for Governor. What would they do with him? There were suggestions that lie presently would succeed Charles F. Murplvv as boss o? Tammany Hall, but it Las doubted that he really was big* enough for that job. So. it was decided that he should be made President of the United States. This series of articles has only a little to do with Governor Smith directly. It. concerns chiefly the remarkable institution, Tammany Hall, which produced him and which is

| the background against which the American people are bound to judge him in considering his claim to the Nation’s highest office. Os Al Smith himself, it is hard to hear much that Isn’t good in New York. He has been a good Governor, everybody declares. Opinion to the contrary is seldom heard, though you seek for it among Republic's and anti-Tam-many Democrats. Start Was Humble Asa candidate there is a great deal in his career to win the sympathy of the millions of average men and women who elect Presidents. He was born in an east side tenement. Smith's battle upward and out of the slums never caused him to lose touch with his early neighbors. He understands the poor and their problems. He even talks the same language, though he has passed the stage where lie called Murphy “Moiphy” and Heartt “Hoist.” When asked Why Tammany has so regularly been successful in New Y’ork, he said: “That is because there are more Democrats in New York than there are Republicans. That’s ail there is to it. Some cities are Democratic and some are Republican. New York happens to be Democratic.” But a study of Tammany Hall makes this explanation somewhat unsatisfactory. Tongue Tips Magnus W. Alexander, director national industrial conference board: “We live tod ;y in an economic world in which everv Industry is under necessity not only to know what is going on in other industries, but in taking part in the common problems of industry." Harry C. Meserve, secretary National Association of Cotton Manufacturers: “New England provides the highest wages and the best housing to be found anywhere in the world in the textile industry.” E. M. Statler, chain hotel man: “Thex-e are very definite limitations to the prices a hotel can charge for what it sells. Those limitations will not permit an operator to make a profit on an investment required by present high construction and equipment costa."

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RAIL LINK WITH LATINS URGED ANEW Commission to Meet Soon to Discuss Progress on Huge Project, By MARRY W. FRANTZ. (il . LL aboard for Mexico, Panama and Buenos Aires!” You may hear this cry in the railway station in New York or Chicago before many decades, if plans now in formation are realized. The project for a Pan-American railway, to connect New’ York with Buenos Aires, which has been slowl f v developing since the first Pan-Ameri-can conference in 1890, has taken a ! new lease of life. The governing board of the Pan-; American Union, acting under in- j struotions from the fifth Pan-Ameri- j can conference, held at Santiago last j year, has just reorganized the PanAmerican railw’ay commission, consisting of eight distingushed engineers and practical railway men of! the United States. Mexico. Chile, ‘ Brazil and Argentina. The commission probably will meet in Washington this summer to discuss the proposed railway. The route originally planned was estimated at 10,116 miles in length from New York to Buenos Aire's. Units now completed total 6,563 miles, leaving 3,547 miles to be built. The only great uncompleted sections are betw’een Guatemala and j the Canal Zone, 600 miles; between j the Canal Zone and Lake Titicaca, j 2.820 miles; and a stretch in south- i ern Bolivia lesst han 200 miles in length which will be completed within one year. Although the completion of the Pan-American Railway Is still probably many years removed because of absence of economic pressure, there Is no reason whatever to doubt its final construction. The chief deterrent at present arises from the fact that in freight hauls a through line could not compete with steamer traffic. How’ever, practically every big unit of such a line might become economically self-sup-porting; and the through line would make a great appeal to tourists.

Science Experiments, conducted under the sanction of the United States Navy, indicate that perhaps the easiest route to a nedueation is to learn while you sleep. The chief radioman of the navy, J. N. Phinney, when a telegrapher at 17, was about to lose his job unless he acquired more speed. He chanced to sleep beside a telegraphic relay and soon was able to read the fastest operator. Years later, lie tried the experiment with radio and it succeeded. Now Phinney, in charge of the radio school at Pensacola naval air station, has tried this sleep-teaching system on seventeen backward students. One increased his speed five words a minute, five increased three words a minute, and five two words —after the first test. After six tests, radio had lost its terrors for these students, as they averaged a gain of thre-e woyds per minute, per night. Phinney claims his system will Work as well on any other subject where it is applicable. Bad for Willie “Here, Willie, come away from that bad boy.” “He ain’t a bad boy, mamma. He's a nice boy; he gave me half of his orange and candy.” ■ “Mercy! The child is a Socialist! Come away from him this instant.” —Boston Transcript. “Radio” Subject of Address Fred R. Finehout, instructor in Technical High School, will speak on “Radio” at a meeting of the In-dianapolis-Lafayette section of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers at the Lincoln May 16, according to announcement today by David C. Pyke, chairman. Anderson Boy Sought Police searched today for Wheeler Gwaltley, 16, fair complexioned, brown coat, red sweater, blue trousers and gray cap. He is said to have left Anderson, Ind., in company with a boy named Davaia.

Getting Nowhere Fast

Ask The Times You can get an answer to any question of fact or information by writing to the Indianapolis Times' Washington Bureau. 1322 New York Ave.. Washington, D. C.. Inclosing 2 cents in stamps for reply. Medical, legal and marital advice cannot be given, nor can extended research lx- undertaken. All other questions will receive a personal reply. Unsigned requests cannot be answered. All letters are confidential.—Editor. Where was the ■ Biblical Canaan? The country west of the Jordan and Dead Sea and between those waters and the Mediterranean. Which is the larger, the United States or Canada? The area of Canada is 3,729,665 square miles; that of the United Stales 3,026,791 square miles. What are the dimensions of Barbot's Midget Plane? Surface. 210 square feet; span, 43 feet 3 inches: length, 20 feet.; engine. 2-cylinder Clerget, developing 15 horsepower at ground level, and 11 horsepower at 5,000 feet; weight, when empty, 243 pounds: weight in flying order, including weight of pilot and 45 pounds of fuel, 485 pounds. By how’ much does the birth rate exceed the death rate in the United States? The birth fate (23.7 per 1,000 population) for the birth registration area in 1920 exceeded by 10.6 per 1.000. the death rate (13.1 per 1,000) for the same area. Are there any States in the Union where aliens cannot own real estate? There are several States w’here aliens, especially those ineligible to American citizenship, are barred from owning real estate within the States’ territorial limits. This holds true of California and Washington. On what day of the week did Feb. 20, 1599, come? Monday. What caused the death of the son of Napoleon I? Tuberculosis. Who is Rebecca West? A well-known English novelist. Her book. "The Judge,” is considered one of the strongest novels written in late years. What is Douglas Fairbanks’ address? Douglas Fairbanks Studios, Los Angeles, Cal. Why is the United States called the “Melting Pot?” Because so many types of humanity come to America and anmoulded into Americans, just as different kinds of metals are flung into the melting pot and fused into some other composite metal. What is the tariff on cut diamonds, ready to be set? Twenty per cent, ad valorem How many acres and how many square miles are there in the city of London? About 443,449 acres or approximately 692.8 square miles.

Whistler

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Lois Jane Jeckel of Cleveland, just 18 months old, is believed to be the youngest whistler in the country. “Dickybird,” her canary, is her playmate and teacher. She sits for an hour at a time listening to him and carrying a tune along with him. And she knows a lot of popular songs, too, picked up from the family phonograph.

TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1924

PRESIDENTS CONTROL IS NOW OVER Tax Bill Action Takes Reins From Hands of Coolidge, By HARRY B. HUNT, NEA Service Writer, rrrj ASHINGTOX, May 13-r-AJI | \*/ semblance of administration ** J control over Congress has gone by the board. Against the most resolute opposition oL<*dministration leaders on the floor, and in the face of a virtual demand by President Coolidge that the Mellon tax bill be enacted as written, the Senate threw out the I Mellon rates on surtaxes and substituted Democratic rates proposed by J Simmons of North Carolina, i On the same afternoon, the House. | invoking the new rule passed under insurgent pressure at the opening of the session, discharged the Interstate anri Foreign Commerce Committee from further consideration of an important amendment to the transportation act and ordered it to the floor for consideration. Parries Scrambled Just one day later, in the Sen- : ate, administration forces which j had blocked employment of Francis j J. Heney to assist the Couzens com- : rnittee in an investigation of the | Treasury Department, particularly | the revenue bureau, which collects taxes and administers prohibition, were routed, and the way cleared for anoiher sensational inquiry. Party lines were hopelessly scrambled in this fight, which resulted in ! an authorization for employment of outside counsel. Since it was the proposal to employ outside counsel that drew a heated protest from Mellon to Coolidge and a caustic letter of criticism of the Senate from the President, this action can be construed only as the Senate’s declaration of independence from White House and Cabinet domination. Simmons Figures The new tax bill, as put through the Senate, might be properly labeled the Mellon bill, per Simmons. Administration Republicanas, however, from the wry face with which I they view the legislation, apparently regard it chiefly as persimmons. For certainly it is a bitter dose. Incidentally, the enactment of the higher surtax rates proposed by Senator Fu mi fold McLefridel Simmons, A. 8., LL D., of New Bern, N. C.. brings into prominence again the dean of the Democratic party in the Senate. Four Terms Simmons, who is just past TO, rounds out this session four full terms in the upper house —twentyfour years. His runner-up for continuity of service on the Democratic side Is his North Carolina colleague, Lee Slater Overman, who also has just turned 70. Overman, however, has only twenty-two years to his credit. Physically, Simmons is the senatorial Lilliputian. He stands barely feet in height. When seated. he is almost lost to sight behind his desk, and when standing behind his desk he measures up in height to the average Senator when seated. But what he lacks in bodily physique, Simmons makes up in cranial capacity. In contrast to his body, his head seems unduly large. And it houses an assortment of financial facts and figures not exceeded in the Senate unless it be those under the hat of Reed Smoot. Other Editors What Farmers NeedIt is said there are 145,000 radio sets on farms in the United States. The farm needs more broadcasters, amplifiers and loud-speakers to carry its own bedtime story to the other fellow. —Lafayette Journal and Cou* rer. Still an “In” Governor McCray’s status did not change in one respect with his removal to the Federal Penitentiary. He is still one of the ins.—Richmond Times Dispatch. Not Crime, Anyway Well, the Senate has found out Harry Daugherty’s middle name and fastened it on him. It’s Micajah, which is bad, but not indictable.— Lafayette Journal and Courier.