Indianapolis Times, Volume 36, Number 215, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 January 1925 — Page 4

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The Indianapolis Times ROY W. HOWARD, President. FELIX V. BRUNER, Editor. WM. A. MAYBORN, Bns. Mgr. Member of the Scrlpps-Howard Newspaper Alliance * • • Client of the United Press and the NEA 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—MA in 3500.

Our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Soil Jesp Christ.—l John 1:3. There is a God within us.—Ovid. THE CITY COURT PROBLEM , SjOTVrFiTTTVrBS the affairs of Indianapolis are sadly neglected in the Legislature. There frequently is a tendency on the part of out-State legislators to feel that the capital city is asking too much of them. But there is at least one Indianapolis problem that the Legislature should solve before it in March. That is the city court problem. Under the present system there is only one city judge to handle all police cases. In addition there is a crew of justices of the peace who handle petty civil and misdemeanor cases. There are two arguments in fhvor of a revision of this system. . First: No human being can handle intelligently and justly the thousands of cases that pass through city court each year. Second: There is no place for justices of the peace in a city like Indianapolis. - The proposed new court system would establish a municipal court of four judges. This court would handle the cases now handled by the police judge and would also handle small civil cases. Justices of the peace, who jre constitutional officers and who can not be put out of business without amending the constitution —which is next to impossible—would be deprived of most of their powers and <sf most of their opportunities to prey on the community. There would, of course, be opportunity for appeal from the city tribunal. One of the objections to the proposed measure is to the fact that the judges would be appointed by the Governor instead of elected. We are inclined to believe this is a wise provision. Political campaigns should have no place in the judiciary. Indianapolis has had plenty of political judges. The present city judge, for instance, is conducting an active campaign for mayor. We have no objection to Judge W.ilmeth running for mayor, but he skould not sit as judge and conduct a campaign for office at the same time. He should resign his judgeship or refrain from political activity. MEN IN THE CHURCH NjOW we have another proof of the,changing world and the changing status of women in modern life. Dr. Lewis Brown, who is about to observe his twenty-fifth anniversary as pastor of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, declares that'men are more responsive to religion today than are women. Dr. Brown gives as the reason for women losing interest the fact that many women are going into business and that they are neglecting church, using Sunday merely as a day of rest and recreation. Meanwhile, more men, he says, are going to church. • Does this mean that since women have gone into business men have more time for religious activity than they had previously ? Or does it merely mean men are growing to see more plainly the need spiritual well-being than they did in years gone by! „ Probably the latter explanation is the correct one. Perhaps men are coming to see that the job of making money is not the only man-sized job in the world. THE (TFrTTJ) LABOR AMENDMENT "FOMENTS of the Federal child labor amendment, which |U j is shortly to come before the Indiana Legislature, conuuue to throw about it a smoke screen of misinformation. On every hand we hear the statement that the amendment would “prevent anybody under 18 years of age from working.” Nothing could be farther from .the truth. If the amend-, meat carried this provision, it would be highly undesirable. As it is, it should be passed. The amendment merely gives the United States Congress the power to enact labor legislation affecting persons under the age of 18 years. I The chances are that the boy or girl under the age of 18 who does not do some kind of useful work during at least part of the time when he or she is not in school will take a long time to learn to work afterward. It is much more desirable that boys and girls should occupy their time usefully than that they should loaf. There is nothing in the amendment that would keep them from working at the proper kind pf occupation. It is ridiculous to think that Congress would enact legislation to keep them from working. But in some States—not to any great extent, including Indiana—children are forced -to work in factories under deplorable conditions, and they are forced to work long hours. This is the sort of thing at which the amendment hits. - How would you like to have your 12 or 14-year-old boy or girl working twelve hours a day in a cotton mill? Os course the mill owners oppose any legislation to stop this practice. It is profitable for them.* , This is the kind of thing the amendment is striking at—not at proper employment under proper conditions. The Indiana Legislature should serve the youth of the country to the extent of ratifying this amendment. FOURTH IN WHAT? m NDIANA ranks fourth in education among ajl States, ae--1 1 j eording to statistics quoted by Donald DuShane, editor of the “Indiana Teacher,” in the current issue. The basis of comparison consists entirely of attendance records and the cost of educating the pupil. NOT ONE WORD IS SAID ABOUT STANDARDS OF LEARNING ;NOT A WORD ABOUT THE MENTAL EQUIPMENT OF THE TEACHERS OR HOW MUCH THE PUPILS LEARN UNDER THEM. The term “educator,” as applied to public school officials flow means “accountant,” “business manager,” “financial expert,” judging from the statistics mentioned. - n It no longer means one who is mentally and intellectually ■ gifted in the direction of inculcating knowledge and wisdom in the minds of our school children. It is not an admirable thing that Indiana is fourth in “education” when the ranking ka& cothing to do with education.

SECRET OF OPPOSITION TO GUN-ELEVATION REVEALED -.'- : - * ; ■ ■' ■ ''' '

Difficulty in Changing Own Equipment Cause of British Stand, BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS —-1 ASHINGTON, Jan. 19.—The VjU real, inside secret behind • Great Britain’s bulldog opposition to the elevation of tig guns on American battleships is now known and is here given to the readers of this newspaper for the first time. The reasons publicly advanced by London —namely, that the changes proposed would constitute a violation of the Washington naval treaty and, secondly, that even were this not so to make them would tend to encourage naval competition—were only,a diplomatic smoke-screen adroitly put up to conceal the really vital ones, wlfich are these: First, that while the United States can increase the range of the big guns of fleet by making minor changes only—changes which in the opinion of all the powers, save Britain, would not infringe upon the terms of the treaty—Great Britain could not follow suit without alterations of a major sort considered'barred by the pact. Would Be Outranged Second, that even if none of the powers objected to the extensive alterations on British ships, and both Britain and made the change, Britain would then find herself outranged from one to three miles by America. Third, every one of Britain’s twenty-two capital already fire at an angle of 20 degrees or over, giving them a range of one and a half to three miles farther than thirteen of eighteen of ours whose angle of fire is only 15 degrees. She naturally wishes to retain this superiority. Fourth, the cost of gun elevation on our ships would not amount to more than $6,500,000 at , the most, while similar changes on British ships would cost several times that, or, it is understood, around .‘>30,000,000 to 340,000,000. This Is due to differences in construction and the necessity of removing from the ships some of their side armor. It is here that the alterations would appear to run counter to the Washington treaty, whidh says: “No alteration in side armor, in jf caliber, number and general type of mounting of main armament shall be permitted.’’ Os the four reasons enumerated above the first two are the controlling factors. Britain has no intention of snapping places with America if.she can avoid it. Long Range Possibilities Our five newest ships—the West IVrginia, Colorado, Maryland, California and Tennessee —can fire at 30 degrees and have ranges from 34,500 to 35,700 yards, or nineteen to twenty miles. The other thirteen battleships can fire no higher than 15 degrees, which limits their range to between 21,000 and 23,000 yards, or approximately thirteen miles. Given an angle of 80 degrees, however, these thirteen ships could hurl a shell anywhere from 82,000 to 35,000 yards, or from one to three miles farther than the longest range guns in the British navy firing at the same anglet This Is mainly because our guns have it over the British slightly as to length. Their ms.ximbum range at SO degrees would be about 30,000 yards. There seems to be ir. Congress not the slightest ill-feeling against Great Britain for trying to prevent the elevation, of our guns. To the contrary, admiration Is expressed for the subtlety of her diplomacy in talcing advantage of American psychology—our sentimental weakness—by appealing to President Coolidge and Secretary of State Hughes to drop the project for humanitarian reasons. The attitude of Congress is that it is perfectly all right—if Britain can get away with it, and also that we deserve whatever we get if we let her do it.

Torn Sims Says Aviators usually stand a nerve test before going up very high, but landlords don’t need one. * The dollars of the family are not carried In the wife's name as often as the w, ense. Right iri the middle of the cry to elevate the masses comes the news that more airplanes will be made. Many divorces are caused by two people who are in love with themselves getting married. No man reaches the end of his rope until it burns his nose. Sitting on a tack is short but to the point. The most popular restaurant drink is soup. (Copyright, 1925, NEA Service, Inc.) Telephone Talk By HAL COCHRAN I’ll bet If a telephone only could tell of the things that It hears in a day, we'd all -gladly listen, then question as well, as to what lines of chat peoplfe say. But phones never talk; they are talked to instead, so let’s eavesdrop on di (Trent folks’ patter. Let’s weigh well and think o’er the things that are said in the course of most any day’s chatter. “Hello, I want Main seven-six-eight-ftve-J.” And then there's a wait for a spell. "Come on, Central, gimme that number today." The caller Is sore, you can tell. A wee little voice gets a number through right, and Anally a man shouts, “Hello!” The wee voice replies: “Hurry home, dad, tonight." That’s a stunt that all fathers must know. 'then mother sits down in a com sortable way and calls up a neigh borhood friend. They chatter and gossip a full hour away, yet nothing is said, in the end. As, yes, Mister Telephone, yours is a plight There’s nothing to do but to listen. But when you can’t tell us what’s heard day and night,

-ir' ’ ' . > THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

RIGHT HERE IN INDIAMA

- By OAVLORD NELSON

Convention "T 1 I PAIR of Republican city A conventions scuffled in the Courthouse Saturday afternoon. It was the culmination of days of civil war in which injunctions and counter injunctions exploded in hostile camps. Fifty special deputy sheriffs and a brigade of policemen were present to prevent the lnary wiggle of the NELSON • municipal campaign. It is by such factional strife that we prepare to pick the officers of a $636,00jD.000 civic corporation with 350,000 stockholders. *Tl*e efficient administration of the affairs of that corporation is of la-, terest to every citizen. But efficient municipal administration is not the issue that has worked the factions and ‘city politicians into a lather. They are concerned with control of the offices, not public welfare. City government is only the football of factional strike and partisan politics. Indianapolis needs fewer selfcrowned political bosses and more nonpartisan executives. About the ■only part of the city government that is nonpartisan now is the city tax.

Executive AYOR SHANK, in a speech In Chicago recently, declared u-,i that more ability is ‘'demanded for the office of mayor in Chicago than for the presidency of the United States. He wasn’t throwing verbal violets. He was only eiflphaslzing that the administration of municipal affairs in Chicago demands unusual executive talent. That is undoubtedly true. The same requirement applies to every large city—even to Indianapolis. Nevertheless, ability is the last consideration urged in determining the choice of mayors. The important qualifications are candidates’ political, social and religious connections. Consequently municipal affairs are often efficiently mismanaged. When a private corporation, with affectionate regard for dividends, seeks an executive to manage its affairs It hires the most capable man obtainable. Ability—not color of hair, social, political or religious leanings—is the necessary qualification. Asa result private business is efficiently managed. What has political oratory got to do with laying a pavement or digging a sewer? All i roblems in municipal administration are essentially business problems. It’s immaterial whether the city’s chief executive is a Republican, a Democrat or a Seventh Day Adventist. The essential thing

What Determines Valve?

By M. E. TRACY t y/l HO does not indorse the docyy trine that a Man is entitled J to the secial valu% of what he produces? ißut what determines that social value? What do Babe Ruth, or Charlie Chaplin, or Mr. Dempsey produce to warrant their incomes? Yet, who kicks when such high lights pass the President of the United States, so far as salary is concerned? There is evidently a factor in the social value of things besides necessity. Appetite, inventiveness, desire, fashion and caprice seem to have a part in determining it. A savage prince might pawn his birthright for a glass bead, but not the modern American business man. He demands a diamond, or a place in society, or a flapper’s smile. With the exception of a few essentials, values constantly change. What was comparatively priceless yesterday becomes fairly worthless tomorrow, and vice versa. • , A Roman matron became rich by raising brown thrusnes for Caesar’s table. Os —| NE hundred years , ago, men wero making fortunes in the production of tinder boxes. Along came the phosphorus match and put them and their industry out of commission. Mr. Ford .has won wealth by manufacturing a small horseless carriage, and Mr. Rockefeller through oil. Neither one nor the other was known to our great-grandfathers. Today the hairdressers are getting a meal ticket by bobbing it. Tomorrow they may be getting a better meal ticket by selling it back in wigs and transformations. Fifty years back, stone cutting was one of the aristocratic crafts, but the advent of steel and concrete has well nigh destroyed it. The social , value of what a man produces is dependent on the age in which he is bom. It is also dependent on whether some shrewd inventor, or promoter, doesn’t come along and change the fashion. Two- generations ago, they wouldn’t eat tomatoes, and the farmer could hardly give them away. In Revolutionary times, the New Bjnglanders wouldn’t eat haddock, but no wthey consider It as good as cod, and try to make toher people think It Is the same thing. If the cotton growers could get women to lengthen their skirts six inches tb* t irould be a market for many thousand more bales, ♦ *1 *

is executive ability. How often do we get that under present conditions 7 Drug Stores EPRESENTATIVE WILLIAM F. WERNER of — Indianapolis will usher a bill into the Legislature to prohibit serving lunches or meals in rooms where other lines of business are conducted. It is aimed at the drug store lunch service. If the bill passes, someone must determine what constitutes a lunch. To some people p, hearty repast Is a glass of carbonated water, a dyspepsia tablet, three pounds of bonbons, or. a large chew of tobacco. All of which every drug store handles. That suggests the question: What is a drug store? Its ancestor was the old apothecary shop, in whose musty Interior prowled a bewhiskered pharmacist with a light sprinkling of calomel behind his ears. , The place was a laboratory where were compounded nauseous medicinal concoctions. It did not -soil its hands with merchsfindise. Now, however, the mortar, pestle and prescription case have practically vanished. Soda fountain, cigars, kodaks, candies and magazines are featured. Drugs are an obscure sideline. The drug store’s present character has evolved from its fight for existence. If the pharmacist can profit more by roachlng his hair and dispensing sodas and sandwiches than’by rolling pills, he w,lll do so. It will be difficult for a statute to buck the law of economics.

•Licenses Jrr-il HE Indiana Music Teachers’ | I I Association advocates a State > J board of examiners and a requirement that all music teachers in the States be licensed. The proposal will be pressed for legislative action. State boards of examiners—and licenses—are now required in pharmacy, medicine, nursing, optometry, embalming, dentistry and engineer lng. Proposals for them are pending for naprapaths, chiropractors, podiatrists, beauty specialists and barbers. Why not for music teachers? Music teaching is undoubtedly danger >us to public peace, dignity, health and welfare. Perhaps the police and sanitary powers of the State should be invoked to protect against unscrupulous quacks in the vocation. 4 Unquestionably the State should regtflate professions in which human lives are directly at stake. However, there is no sound reason for wrapping the cloak of official authority and sponsorship around every struggling vocation. A State license wouldn’t make the sour note of a music teacher less acidulous—ncr is it more efficacious in many other licensed professions. State boards of examiners and licensing are usually demanded not by the public but. by associations for their private ends. They are designed principally to club individual craftsmen into' line—and they uselessly cumbeqrthe machinery of government, already sufficiently complicated.

AN EDITORIAL

And so one might go on, illustrating the, whimsicality of social value, and how it wanders up gnd down, hither and yon, in response to about every human appetite and faculty. Income Tax The period for filing returns of income on a calendar year basis Is from Jan. Ito March 15, 1925. Copies of the forms hive “been mailed to persons who filed individual returns for the year 1923. Failure to receive a form, however, does not relieve the taxpayer of his obligation to file his return and pay his tax on time. Tlya forms are now available at Offices of collectors of internal revenue and branch offices. Persons whose net income was derived chiefly from salaries or wages and was not in excess of >5,000 should use Form 140A. The form .consists of a single sheet in which space is provided for answers to only four questions; salaries, wages, commissions ,etc.; interest on bank deposits, notes, mortgages, and corporation bonds, dividends on stocks of domestic corporations, and other icome, including from partnerships and fiduciaries. On. the reverse side are instructions, which if studied will be of material aid to the taxpayer in the filing of a correct return. \ Persons, any part of whose rtet income was derived from business or profession, including farming, or from the sale of property or rent, though the amount -tfas less than $5,000, should use the larger form, 1040. The use of the larger form is required also In cases where the net income was In excess of $5,000, regardless of whether,from salary, business, profession or other taxable sources. The return, sworn to before a notary or other person authorized to administer an oath, must be filed on or before midnight of March 15 with the collector of internal revenue for the district where the taxpayer has his legal residence or has his principal place'of business. Heavy pen alties are provided for failure or willful refusal to file a return and pay the tax on time. As heretofore, the tax must be paid in full at the time of filing the return or in four equal installments, due on or before March 15, June 15, Sept. 15 and Dec. 15. In view of tax reduction the number of persons paying In full at the time of iihng the return, it is believed, viD be greatly increased. ■.<&L

Can’t Business Govern Itself?

By N. D. COCHRAN O'" '1 VER 50,000 employes of the Government live in Washingi___ ten. Many of them live in apartments. During the .war, when there was a tremendous increase In Government employes and hence a big increase In the, demand for living quarters, rents increased rapidly. The situation became so bad that Congress had to step in with legislation to protect tenants from rent gouging. There has been little improvement since the end of the war, but landlords have been demanding that Congress take hands off. Tenants plead with Congress to continue the rent commission and complain that rents have been steadily increased. There have been many evictions. Business organiza tions are supporting the demands of landlords. Business in other cities, especially real estate bodies, is coming to the support of the Washington realtors, The tenants have little support except their own efforts. The Washington situation has a general interest because of the issue as to whether business shall be selfgoverning or shall submit to regulation by political government. Business Not Organised If business in Washington were well enough organized to be self,governing and to proetet the public

Ask The Times j You can get an answer to any question of fact or iulormation by writing to The Indianapolis Times Washington Bureau, 1322 New York Ave., Washington. D. 0., inclosing 2 cents in stamps for reply. Medical, legal and marital advice cannot be given, nor can extended research be undertaken. All other questions will receive a personal reply. Unsigned requests cannot be answered. All letters are confidential—Editor What are some of the prominent species of the flora of Sputh America? Bromelias, c.actuses, orchids, ferns, lilies, palms, grasses, . countless species of large trees, creeping vines, bamboos, moss and lichens. What is Mary Roberts Rinehart’s address? 2419 .Massachusetts Ave., N. W., Washington, D. C. What are the pictures on the new 1923 issue of currency? sl, Washington: $2, Jefferson; $5, Lincoln: $lO, Jackson; S2O, Cleveland; SSO, Grant; SIOO, Marshall; sl,000, Hamilton; $5,000, Madison; SIO,OOO, Chase. • What does “dolce far niente” mean? • Sweet idleness. How much mall do Senators and Representatives receive each day? It has been' estimated that Sen ators qverage seventy pieces of mail a day and Representatives 100. How did Alaska get its name? From an English corruption of the native word “al-ay-ek-sa,” probably meaning “The Great Land’* or "Mainland.” * Who uses Jefferson Davi:’ old desk in the Senate chamber? Senator Pat Harrison of Mississippi now occupies it. Who was Sherlock Holmes, and where did he live? He was simply a character in Conan Doyle’s fiction stories. Where is the word “reverend” mentioned in the Bible? The only place is the 111 Psalm, 9th vep3e;,“He send redemption unto His* people: He hath commanded His covenant forever; holy and reverend in His name.” . 1 * -j. • . f Are there any Indian tribes that eat only the internal parts of animalea? . Practically all Indian tribes eat the internal parts of animals as well as their flesh, but there are no tribes which discard the. flesh and

Going! Going! Gone!

against exploitation, its protest against regulation by Congress would be more convincing. If the real estate business Itself were thoroughly organized it could quickly discipline and bring to time any members of their organization who brought discredit on the business by gouging or other unfair practices. It could prevent pyramidinig impossible. Every business should its code of ethics and should be strong enough to effectively punish violations of the code. Once the public feels It will be protected by the business itself it wifi prefer to take advantge of that protection by doing business with members of the business organization or union. Expulsion from the union then would make outlaws of violators of the code and hurt their business. That would make membership in the organization valuable. Better Business Bureau

Some branches of business have seen the value of protecting the public against unscrupulous members of their business. Throughout the country the better business organization, by calling attention to fraudulent or deceitful advertising, and by insisting on all merchants living up to the code lived up to the honest merchants, hits placed merchandising on a higher and sounder plane. The growth of the better business organization has been a development of merchants toward self-govern-ment. Political government is glad enough to let alone a business that intelligently governs itself. Os all organizations, the bar associations are in best position to govern themselves. They know the law, and they are in position to protect the public from crooked lawyers by having them disbarred. They do

is Chicago “The Hoosier” Leaves Indianapolis 7:45 A. M. Leaves Boulevard Station.. 8:00 A. M. Arrives Chicago ......... 12:45 P. M. "Chicago limited” Leaves Indianapolis .. 12:00 Noon Leaves Boulevard Station .. 12:15 P. M. Arrives Chicago.. 4:55 P. M. “The Tippecanoe” Leaves Indianapolis 4:30 P. M. Leaves Boulevard Station., 4:44 P. M. Arrives Chicago..9:lo"P. M. “Midnight Special” Leaves Indianapolis 1 :Q0 A. M. Leaves Boulevard Station.. 1:15 A. M. Arrives Chicago., 7:10 A.M. (Sleepers ready m Union Station 9 P. M .) ( (ISpecial Sleeper ready at Boulevard Station9P.M.)

[MONDN ROUTE]

T Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Ry. Ticket Offices: 38 West Ohio Street .... Phone Circle 4600

MONDAY, JAN. 19. 1925

more of this thafi they did years ago, but they haven’t made a complete Job of It yet. v The number of crooked bankers is relatively very small, but there were enough of them in the early days to make strict governmental regulation of banking necessary-. Needed Regulation When the railroad business was young it ran wild. Not many years ago most Judges rode on passes, and railroad scattered passes among* the politicians with a lavish hand—particularly members of Congress and State Legislatures. But the railroads are better off today with ngsses practically abolished. All the same they needed a lot of government in the regulation of their business before they began to learn the fine art of self-government. Undoubtedly the time will come when tenants won’t have to look beyond the organized real estate business itself for a square deal, but it hasn’t come yet. That it will organize is inevitable. No business in which a majority are honest will forever stand for a minority that discredits the business. When any or profession is intelligently organized it will learn that In protecting the public from* injustice it is protecting Itself. Then it can guarantee itself to the public. And this goes for labor unions as well os for business unions. In the meantime society, or the Government, must step in in one way or another to protect the helpless, which generally means the unorganized majority. In the rent situation governmental regulation is necessary to correct abuses and will continue to be necessary until organized business in Washington can guarantee itself and each individual member organization.