Indianapolis Times, Volume 36, Number 14, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 May 1924 — Page 4

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

MR. MELLON’S FOUR POINTS Secretary Mellon is urging President Coolidge to veto the tax bill. Mr. Mellon says (1) that the rates in the bill are not scientific, (2) that the bill will not collect neuogh that publicity of amount of tax paid by persons and corporations will ruin business by permitting big companies to prey on little ones and by permitting banks to know too much about borrowers’ business affairs and (4) publicity of tax refund and abatement matters will injure the credit of business concerns. In his opposition to the compromise bill, Mr. Mellon stands alone among the leading men of his party, but a goodly crowd of his fellow multi-millionaires and their parasites stand with him. His objections may be examined singly. (1) That the rates n the compromise bill are not scientific. The rates are proposed by Senator Simmons, Democrat, who is the most skilled man in his party on tax matters. They are agreed to by Senator Smoot, who is the Republican senatorial tax expert, and by Congressman Green, Republican tax expert in the House. They differ from the Mellon rates only in that they reduce rates on incomes of less than $62,000 per year more than the Mellon plan would and they reduce taxes on incomes greater than $62,000 less than the Mellon plan would. (2) That the bill will not collect enough taxes. The proposed bill reduces taxes about as much as the Mellon plan would and collects about the same amount of money. The only difference is that the very, very rich get less of the reduction than they would under the Mellon plan. (3) That publicity of the amount of taxes paid will ruin business by permiting big companies to prey on little ones and would permit banks and other creditors to know too much about borrowers’ business. As to the first, it would seem that real enforcement of arMitrust laws and laws against unfair competition would protect business, great and smalh As to the second, the proposal that borrowers are to be aided by law in deceiving their creditors and bankers, is anew theory of business and of banking. (4) That publicity of tax refund and abatement matters will injure business concerns. Mr. Mellon proposed a court of men to be selected by him and to sit in secret with power to make arid revise rules of taxpaying. All secret. Congress adopted the theory of a tax appeal board and ordered that their proceedings be open and public. Their rulings, thus, would be a gtiide to all tax payers. That is the only difference. It has been shown, however, that, besides the hundreds of millions of taxes secretly paid back by the Treasury, other hundreds of millions have been secretly ordered not to be collected. If it isn’t a menace to business to have a system of secret taxation and rebates, then it is nothing at all. If President Coolidge vetoes the tax bill because of Mr. Mellon’s four points, then he will need all the time between now and next November to explain the faith that is in him. BEFORE THE HORSE IS STOLEN EREADER of this paper writes in a suggestion that strikes the editor as being not only to the point, but also timely. Says this reader: It has just occurred to me that about two years or so from now the newspapers will be eliminating more regular news from their columns *o that they may carry greater details of the big bonus scandal in Washington, exposing the waste of money in administering the bonus. We will hear how thousands of veterans are yet to receive their policies after two years have elapsed since they were due. It will be disclosed how another Jesse Smith and some state gang arranged a plan whereby millions in insurance policies were issued to men who never saw' a day of service, and how these men got away with money borrowed on the policies. It will be shown how the nimble Angers of unscrupulous employes got into the insurance pot. and there will oe the usual story of political inefficiency, waste and graft. "* Why can't the newspapers start right now to head tiiis off? By devoting a little space to what is happening when it is happening they can save not only much space, but they can see that the soldiers get the bonus that was intended for them. Os course, it would be running against all the standing rules for the conduct of national scandals to lock the door before the horse is stolen. Folks might not like their scandals bandied that way! But in this case, where the principal victims of the scandal, if it grew in the normal way, would be war veterans who risked their lives for the sake of their country, it seems as though the country ought to be willing to make some concessions. Let’s forget our national customs and political traditions and all that and make this one big public enterprise, conducted entirely in the open, by honest, efficient officials, with the benefits going where the benefits were intended to go when the bonus bill was passed. That might make just as big news as scandal. Who knows?

THOSE WHO are trying to make war illegal may well stop, look and listen. We made liquor illegal, and see what happened. WHILE THE DOCTORS are conquering disease they should not overlook the need of a serum that will counteract the railway crossing. — ONE COUNTY in Minnesota has just celebrated'a “better sires” day, and it is to be hoped that the papas up there learned something to their advantage. DEFYING HIS critics, Dr. Butler says he is “ready to go to bat” in defense so his contention that prohibition is a failure, and we may say that is better than going on one.

The Soldiers' Bonus Law

Do you want to know what the newly passed War Veterans Adjusted Compensation Law provides? Our Washington Bureau has a specially prepared bulletin ready for distribution to every reader of The Indianapolis Times, who is interested in learing what the

BONUS EDITOR, Washington Bureau. The Indianapolis Times, 1322 New York Ave„ Washington, D. C. I want a copy of the bulletin THE BONUS LAW, and enclose herewith 5 cents in loose postage stamps for same: NAME \ ST. & NO. or R. R . CITY ... STATE

bonus law gives to veterans and their dependents, hiw the benefits of the law are obtainable, who receives these benefit:., and how the enormous job of administering the law is to be performed. If yau wish a copy, fill out the coupon below and mail as directed:

DEMOCRATIC OFFICE IS BUSY PLACE Everybody Working in Preparation for Campaign This Year, By LARRY BOARDMAN NEA Service Writer r—WASHINGTON, May 27.—BusYY/ ier than a one-legged man on ■ *' y roller skates trying to climb a steep hill paved with banana peels. That’s the headquarters of the Democratic national committee. It fairly exudes hustle, bustle—and. confidence. Urtder the energetic leadership of Cordell Hull, "national committee chairman, a battalion of clerks and stenographers is banging out publicity, taking subscriptions, sending out letters and pledge cards, making preparations /or the national convention in New York. Hull is aided and abetted by the committee’s, executive secretary Burt New. Richard Linthicum is director of publicity. Finance Director C. C. Lyon is the man who takes in the money, and Mrs. N. B. Harris, national committee auditor, pays it out. Incidentally, Mrs. Harris—who hails from Tennessee, hits bobbed red hair, and is known to her friends as “Red’'—is the only woman auditor any national committee ever had. As to the coming election, why a Democrat will win in a walk, of course! Even the committee’s envelopes and pledge cards are emblazoned with the picture of a crowing rooster! But as to which Democrat —well, that's sortie; hing different again. Nobody even ventures a guess.

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LEFT: CORDELL HULL, CHAIRMAN OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CENTER: THE DEMOCRATIC ROOSTER. RIGHT: MRS. N. B. HARRIS, NATIONAL COMMITTEE AUDITOR..

Ask The Times You can get an aDswer to any question of lot or information by writing to the I.'.iiianapoiii Times' Washington Bureau. 132" New York Ave., Washing top. X> C.. inclosing 2 cents in stamps for reply. Medical, legal and manta! advice cannot be given, nor can extended resear h bo undertaken. a;, other questions will receive a personal reply. X'neigned requests ejnnot be answered. All letters are confidential .—Editor. What were the appropriations for the Post Office- Department for the fiSfcal year ending June 30, 1923? ?573,525.35. When did the Sherman cyclone occur? May 15, 1896. Wliat is a good formula for cleaning white tile? Mix one volume of strong muriatic acid with four to five volumes of water. Moisten mop or sponge with the solution and rub over the tile. The solution will attack the cement between the tiles and, therefore, should not be poured or flushed on tile. Wash the tile thoroughly with water after using the acid. How can one prepare the ground in order to keep earthworms on hand always for bait? There is practically no way of preparing earth for earthworms so that it will indefinitely keep them. However, by placing a large quantity of good soil or moss in a ventilated retainer in a cellar or other moist place, and by occasionally moistening the soil or moss, one may keep weirms for a long time, or even breed them. In some places where worms are hard to obtain, it is the practice to raise them in soil to which a little flour is occasionally added for food. If the quantity and moisture of the soil is right to keep the worms healthy is should not sour. As sour soil indicates sick worms, the soil should be changed and conditions altered. The addition of a little lime might prevent souring. Were all the signers of the Constitution of the United States born in this country? * No; Pierce Butler, Thomas Fitzsimons, James McHenry, William Patterson, were born in Ireland; Alexander Hamilton was born in the West Indies; Robert Morris was born in England, and James Wilson was born in Scotland.

Can a negro become President of the United States? There is no legal barrier. What are some Indian names and their meanings, suitable for a country place? Adahi, forest place; Talahi, in the oaks; Amaivulti. water side; Watuhiyi, beautiful place; Ahaluna, lookout place; Unaliyi, place of my friends; Akwenasa, my home; Ustanali, rock ledge. How old is Richard Dix? Thirty. What is the average composition of a hen’s egg? Water, 73.7 per cent; protein, 13.4 per cent; fat, 10.5 per cent; ash, 1.0 per cent; fuel value per pound, 720 calories.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

The Turn-Over By HAL COCHRAN It may be right nice to wake up in the morn just after your slumber’s been deep, but the niceness about it, as sure as you’re born, is to wake —and then4hll back to sleep. A beautiful sight is the break of the dawn and a thriller to all folks, it seems. But the thrill is much nicer if you can just yawn, and shortly fall back into dreams. It may be the twitter of birds, understand, or the morning noise out or the street that wakes you, but, honestly, isn’t it grand to snuggle back under the sheet? There’s something that’s fine in the early morn stretch, and, though you may know you should rise, it’s greater if you can just leisurely catch a little more rest for your eyes. It’s nice to get up, and it’s nice to get out in the air when it’s all done and said, but it’s nicer to me, and I think you'll agree, if you just can turn over in bed. (Copyright, 1924, NEA Service, Inc.) Nature The German roach or Croton-bug, commonly called “water bug,” received its name from first being associated with the water system of New York City, 'through the Croton aqueduct. These insects follow the plumbing in houses and demand moisture to exist. Cock roaches belong to the family rather closely related to grasshoppers and locusts. This family contains nearly a thousand known species. Most of these occur out of doors in fields and woods, and only four or five species have become domestic in the United States. In tropical countries, however, the domestic species are about as abundant as the wild sort. Some of these are of striking color and of large size. One kind has a wing expanse of over six inches.

Tom Sims Says: Even if Congress does extend its session all will not be lost. The Weather will be too warm for them to work much. The best thing about giving the war vets life Insurance is they won’t have to spend so much time arguing with insurance agents. They operated on a movie comedian in Hollywood, so we hope they didn’t cut out any of his foolishness. A small town is a place where they always will remember the wek they had two fires. Nothing is more amusing then an old fellow trying to choke down one of these modern olive and nut sandwiches. Political pow-wows are being held to keep the country from going to the bow-wows. Perhaps the worst job on earth is being a diplomat and having to smile when you feel like cussing. The United States may be awful, but it is about the only place where the people don’t want to move to another country. Farmers sell for low prices and consumers buy for high prices, chiefly because a lot of people have to live without working.

Governor

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MRS. SOLEDAD C. CHACONE ByXEA Service | ANT A FE, N. M„ May 27.--I I The first woman Governor 1- -1 of an American State will be Mrs. Soledad C. Chacone, Secretary of State for New Mexico. Lieutenant Governor Bacca died. When Governor James F. Hinkle leaves New Mexico for the Democratic convention, Mrs. Chacone will become acting Governefc * \ '

PITTSBURGH HAS NOVEL TAX PLAN System Tends to Destroy Land Monopoly —Aids Industry, By HERBERT QUICK In 1697 the British government levied a tax on houses -according to the number of windows. It lasted until 1851. It was then seen to be a tax which destroyed windows and shut out light from houses and injured the health of women and children especially. The tax showed darkness in governmental minds and produced it in homes. In Egypt once the government, arguing that incomes came from date trees, taxed them. Thousands of date trees were cut down to avoid taxation, the government lost taxes and the people starved for dates. In Pittsburgh, Pa., the city is trying to avoid the destruction of desirable things by taxation. There is no State tax in Pennsylvania on real estate or personal property. Now the city has reduced its tax on improvements until they pay only 60 per cent jf the rate on land values, if you owned a factory on a $10,00( site in Pittsburgh, with buildings on it worth SIO,OOO, with machinery, raw materials and finished goods worth $50,000, your taxeswould be $l9O on the land value, s’l4 on the building, and nothing at ill on the goods on hand, making a to’al of $304. Next year the tax on buildings and improvements will be reduced to 50 per cent of the rate on land values. They seem to like the system there. It Is a guarantee that the things produced by industry will not bo destroyed by taxation, as the

: date trees were in Egypt and the | windows in England. The thing which this system tends |to destroy is land monopoly; for the burden* rests more and more : heavily on sites. But this is bene- | fleiu 1 to industry. “Come to Pittsburgh,” says this j policy in taxation. “We levy tax.t- ---! tion -so as not to destroy industry, but to do away partially with mo- • nopoly of natural opportunity, the foe ! i>f industry. We try not to kill the good thing.” j Taxation is destruction —of soinei thing. Other Editors Strange Bedfellow > There will need be some mighty fine engineering on the part of the Cleveland hotel committee to properly house that Indiana delegation to keep from having a rumpus. Think of Watson. New, Goodrich and Beveridge sleeping in the same j building even. Yea, even the city j may he too small to house them all. —Bluff ton-Banner. Political Circus A regular party man in politics these days may be described as a regular circus clown who jumps from one horse to another to please the crowd. —Frankfort News. “Shorty” The nomination of Fred Schortemeier for secretary of State makes up in some measure for the medley of unknowns named for most of the other places on the Republican ticket.---Eebanon Reporter. Family Fun Not Tiiat Way! A woman made a purchase f>-om one of the flower girls in Piccadilly Circus and said: “I suppose you will bo here on Wednesday? I shall want a lot of flowers for my daughter; she is coming out on that day.” "She shall have the host in the market, mum,” replied the flower girl, sympathetically. "What’s she been in for?”—Pearson’s. At the Old Well They stood by the old well together. "How shall we drink?” he asked. “There is no bucket hero.” She lowered her eyes; when she raised them again they were full of water. —Whiz Bang. Meow! “Anyway, her singing drowns the conversation.” '“Goodness! I understood that drowning was an easy death.”—Boston Transcript. Insurance “What! You kiss the cook on the first day she is here!” “Os course! She isn't likely to be here for the second.” —Der Brummer < Berlin). Why Women Marry “What possessed her to marry him, I wonder?” “Well, you know how hard it is to get good caddies nowaday.”— *4irooklyn Life.

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EVEN PRINTS OF FINGERS ARE FORGED O’Dare Tells of Unusual Experiment in Deceiving Authorities, P.y ICAIN O'DARE LBERT WEHDE of Chicago was confined in the Federal prison -it Leavenworth in 1921 for an infringement of our neutrality laws during the World War. Previous to his trouble with this government he had been employed in the German intelligence service for years. After his incarceration by the United States he sought revenge against the secret service of this country. This revenge became a reality when Wehde forged to his own fingers the fingerprints of a dead man and-defied the secret service of this Nation to detect them from the genuine. Wehde was employed in the lab- < eatery in connection with the record clerk's office in the Leavenworth prison. It was here we two prisoners nut, and became intimate as men wil! who are shut away from the rest of the world. Breaks I p System The jerman intelligence man finally took me into his confidence and requested me to watch him wliile he broke up the fingerprint system of identification. Wehde went to the files of the Institution. which we Inmates in the record clerk’s office had access to. and took out a sheet of fingerprints belonging to a man who had been a prisoner twenty years before, and for ten years dead. From these prints he made an enlarged photograph, and from the photograph went through the process of photo-gravure and made a deeply etched halftone. Preparing a wax solution he covered his fingertips, covering the telltale loops; and whorls and other characteristics. Pressing his waxed finger tips against the halftone of the dead man's fingerprints he gave to his own fingertips an exact reproduction of the characteristics belonging to a man who had died a decade ago. Going to the record clerk of the institution, who was a civilian, he picked up a glass vase from his lIIV HI Ikfj TAKING THE FINGER PRINT. desk and asked him to kindly identify the fingerprints he had left thereon. Looks Up Record Fisher, the clerk, sensing something more than a joke, took the glass vase into his laboratory and dusted it with charcoal compound so as to bring into view the prints that Wehde had made. After classification of the prints Fisher took them into the Bureau of Identification where there are on file 300,000 prints belonging to criminals from all parts of the world. It was here that the chief of the bureau “ran them down,” as the saying goes, and discovered that they belonged to a man who had been dead for ten years and who had been a prisoner in Leavenworth twenty years before.

The Nightmare

Shopping

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,A princess likes to examine the quality of the goods she chooses, as well as any other woman. Princess Mary' of England snapped looking over dress cloth at a private showing given for her at the Wembley British Empire Exposition. Tongue Tips Edward N. Hurley, foreign debt funding commission: “Only efficiently managed plants can hope to ride industrial storms.” Dr. I. M. Doreen, Kansas City: “The bulwark of America is its boy life.” Sitnon L. Nye, president American Booksellers Association: “A book of fiction that has been published three months is virtually dead, forgotten and awaiting removal to the bargain tables almost without exception.” Dr. Robert E. Speer, president Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America: “The - forces of evil rejoice when they see the influence of the church broken into fragments.” John Marshall, Kansas Supreme Court judge: “It was war that preserved the type of Christian of which we are so proud today. There is no other solution to the evils of the present day than war.”

Musicland Anton Rubinstein was born in Russia. His father was a pencilmaker of Moscow. He, like many other prominent composers, received his first instructions from his mother. When but 10 years old he was making concert tours with his professor. When 38 years old he w r as appointed court musician to the Czar and his popularity increased. His brother, Nicolai, though he did not gain the favor that Anton did, was also a great musician. A Thought Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.—Matt. 5;3-12. * * * Let us be merciful as well as just. —Longfellow. The Way Is Ls Worked There is more gasoline in the country than ever before. And so the price probably will go up. according to the well known gasoline law of supply and demand —the greater the supply, the more the refiners demand.—Kokomo Dispatch. What Hubby Hears “Could I have tonight out, dearie?” “No.” “No ls all I have heard from you since you said ‘yes.’ ” —Detroit News.

TUESDAY, MAY 27, 1924

INCOME TAX PUBLICITY IS APPROVED Wisconsin Finds Many Benefits Since Veil is Lifted, Bii Timex Special MADISON, Wis., May 27.—When Secretary Mellon stressed the dangers that are supposed to lurk in making public the amount of income tax individuals and corporations pay, he said Wisconsin was the only State in which such publicity was made compulsory by law. The secretary neglected, however, to say what had been the effect of lifting the veil of secrecy from tax returns in this State. Here in Wisconsin, the law is regarded as a complete success. There have been none of the calamitous conditions which the opponents of tax publicity predicted. The removal of the secrecy clause has almost completely removed the temptation, to understate taxable income. Few Use Returns One of the most often repeated arguments against the publicity of income tax ’.eturns was the assertion that it would make every one’s business the subject or investigation by the idle curious. Charles D. Rosa, member of the Wisconsin tax commission, says: "The very meager use that the public has made of the privilege now accorded them of examining income tax returns has even surprised me. “The requests for examination of the returns have been very few, indeed. The work of none of our offices has been interfered with even in the slightest degree. So far as I have heard there has been no complaint of the information that anybody has secured through the medium of returns examined either in our office here in the Capitol or in any of our forty offices of assessors of incomes scattered throughout the State.” Bugaboo Eliminated Wisconsin’s experience seems to eliminate entirely the bugaboo that opponents of publicity have been presenting to the lawunakers in. Washington. This is the ease, despite the fact that the law here provides for fujt publicity of the entire returns filed by individuals, where as the publicity provision as provided in the tax bill just passed by the Senate and House in Washington calls only for the publication of the total amount of tax paid by an individual or corporation without opening to public inspection the tax return itself.

Science America now- leads the world in the teaching of science. All other countries, even England, have fallen far behind. At the University of Oxford, with 4,000 undergraduate students, the number taking the preliminary course in biology is only sixty, and most of these are doing so because it is necessary in some professional courses. In an average American university out of 3,000 undergraduates, over 600 were taking this course. The sale of inexpensive and popular books of science has reached an enormous figure in this country and the demand constantly is for better books. The recent writing of popular books on science showed an immense. field for such works, and also showed scientists that it was not the public's indifference to science, but technical writings in scientific language that was the real cause of public ignorance. The effect of this growth of popular interest in scientific subjects ii plainly marked in scientists themselves. as a whole, who are more anA more w illing to take the publio int* their confidence.