Indianapolis Times, Volume 36, Number 227, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 February 1925 — Page 4

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The Indianapolis Times ROY W. HOWARD, President. FELIX F. BRUNER, Editor. WM. A MAYBORN, Bus. Mgr. Member o 1 the Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance • • * Client of the United Press and the NBA 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.

Seest thou a torti diligent in his business? he sliall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.— Prov. 22:29. Prefer diligence before idleness, unless yon esteem rust above brightness.—Plato. \ - 1 BE FAIR TO FRANCE "TriMERICANS should be stampeded into an adverse attitude toward France in connection with the European debt settlement problem. ' The need right now is for American public opinion to be fair to France, to weigh all of the facts in her case, and to remember that it is with the French people of today and all time, and not with the French politicians of the moment, that our relationship of the future must be. Facts line up about as follows: First, business, trading, credit, are as important in France as in any other country of the world. And Frenchmen in business are about as ksen as any. They are the preponderant element, perhaps more so than in any other nation, because of the - great number of small private enterprises in France. These business men and owner-farmers of France who purchase and trade on credit, know what credit means. Their existence is the insurance that America, and the rest of the world, has that France will pay her debts—just as fast as she can pay them without slowing down or jeopardizing the safety of the great French producing machine. Second, the TAX CAPACITY of France is NOT comparable to that of nations like England and the United States, even on a basis of per capita wealth. France is what modern economists call a “Distributive State/’ rather than a “capitalist State.” That is, instead of being a country of millionaires with enormous incomes on the one hand, and wage-earners with incomes just sufficient to live on the other, she is a country of many modest but comfortable incomes. There are relatively hardly any Rockefellers, or Morgans, or Mellons. There are* relatively a small number of people with no money in the bank or no investments at all; not long ago it was calculated that half the people owned at least some land. The wealth is there all right, but it is harder for the government to get at it. For instance, no great hardship is caused if you tax the owner of a great chain of grocery stores half or more of his profits, but it would be cruel, if not impossible, to tax all the owners of small grocery stores on the same basis. The economic advantages of the distributive state ara stability and the JEact/tlmt ple are naturally patriotic. One disadvantage is tfialtne government simply cannot get as much money together quickly “for war and other special purposes as in a capitalist state. Third, France has reasons hard to understand here for wanting to spend a considerable part of available tax money on her army. Actually such expense is really insurance that she will ever be able to pay any of heiv debts, or even to exist as a nation. * • ; - Since the formation of the Republic she has been invaded twice by foreign soldiers, right to the gates of her capital and chief city—Paris. Europe is still admittedly unsettled. The chief powers of the League of Nations, ex-allies of the late war, are also ex-enemies of a war not very long past, that the pres-ent-day Frenchman’s father can still tell about. A general disarmament policy sounds fine on the far side of a three-thousand-mile-wide ocean, but France has no such ocean on any of her borders. And she has experience. Not for anything that has ever happened in the past, but with a view simply to today, and tomorrow, the wise word to Americans is that they should be calm, judicial and really informed before passing judgment on any phase of the present difference over war debts between the French and American Governments.

RADIO AND THE THEATER (X|CTORS, actresses, playwrights, music writers, managers L 1 others who make their livelihood from the stage and screen, foregathered in New York the other day to form an organization to combat what they styled the menace of radio. One after another, spokesmen arose to tell how folks were staying home nowadays, of an evening* listening to entertainment offered by the radio, when they should have been at the theater, at two-fifty per, being entertained with drama, or at the movies, at a dollar per throw, following the loves, and the dangers, and the happy endings of the characters on the screen. /& ne excited manager, William A Brady, declared that “the theater, the radio and the phonograph are in a battle that may destroy one of the three. Don’t let our actors and actresses, by entertaining for nothing, aid in the building up of a process that may in the long run prove their own destruction.” It doesn’t take a very old person to recall how the legitimate stage used to fight the movies on the same grounds. But the movies grew, just the same, and one net result was better pay for actors and actresses' in the spoken theater, because it had to compete with what the movies offered. Box office theater managers have never liked the phonosrraph, but today those singers and entertainers who are best at their arts are, in many instances, drawing as great revenues from phonograph royalties as they do from their daily stunts before the footlights. If they organize a warfare on radio, the stage and the novies will hurt mainly the stage and the movies. Radio may tfe a poor orphan now. but it will grow strong and healthy. The fortunate ones will be those who adopt radio, while adopting is good. The phonograph is doing that already. Another thought is worth considering. Printers once smashed linotype machines because one linotype did the work of several men. Noy more men work 'linotypes than ever worked at printers’/sases, and they make more at it. The machines made possible millions of readers who read but little before. Millions of tll>se who listen to the radio each night seldom go to movies, nevej go to legitimate theaters. Maybe the radio will develop their Jaste for music and drama. .

STILL HIGHER GASOLINE PRICES ARE PREDICTED FOR U. S.

Top of 30 Cents a Gallon Is Seen In Some Quarters. Times W'lghinaton Burew* 1322 New York AvenUb. WASHINGTON, Feb. 2.—Gasoline prices throughout the country are soaring. Predictions are current thfit before the fight is ended a gallon of gas will cost 30 cents. Reports now being received by the President’s oil conservation board and by the Department of Commerce show that the average country-wide advance in gasoline prices during the past few weeks is considerably over 2 cents a gallon. The cause, say the jubilant oil men, is that consumption has overtaken production. For the first time in years storage tanks are being drained to help meet the demands which have for so long been more than met by new production alone. The present state of affairs has developed since President CooUdge, only a few W6eks ago, in announcing the formation of an oil conservation board consisting of Secretaries Hoover, Work, Weeks and Wilbur, stated that production must be curbed. Excess Production "The production is In excess of our Immediate requirements,’* the President said. “That over-produc-tion in itself encourages cheapness, which In turn leads to wastefulness.” So sudden has been the subsequent price Increase that intimations have come from the conservation board that an Investigation into the cause of the present rapid boost in crude oil and gasoline prices may supplant the original intention of studying methods of curbing production. OH men throughout the country hailed with delight the President’s formation of the Conservative Board. They were then still unhappy over the low prices of oil and gasoline. Today their outlook is entirely different, and many of the same men who a month ago thought only Government action could save the Industry now consider the Conservation Board Is nothing more important than anew organization for gathering statistics. Statistics gathering Is already well under way. Though official sessions of the Conservation Board have not yet begun, the country has been flooded with questionnaires in wloich all men connected with the oil industry ore requested .to explain “what’s the matter with the oil business.” v - "Times Are Good” Some who were ready two or three weeks ago to reply “everything” are now emphatic that "nothing is the matter with the little old oil business. In fact, times were never better." From the point of view of the man who owns oil Wells or who makes his living by "cracking” gasoline, the present situation is Indeed rosy. It Is roughly estimated that at least $100,000,000 profit has accrued to the Industry because of ,the price boostsi *&hlclg<]jave. &kei> tjfte country by storm. Almost dally reports are received of increases in crude oil prices. The epidemic began in Pennsylvania, ran through Ohio and other middle western States, took a hold on Kansas companies and has run on into Texas and the Far West. The 17,000,000 people who drive automobiles will hardly be overjoyed to learn that, according to the forecasts of many closely connected with oil markets, the present increases are merely a sample of what is to come. That is, unless the Oil Conservation Board should turn itself into a consumers’ conservation board.

, A Duty of Government’

py HERBERT QUICK ‘f | j T Is always the province I J[ I and duty of Government to ,l ' try to protect the weak against those vicious things that destroy character, Weaken the Intellect, wreck homes, and bring unhappiness to the human race." I take this above from the Item In “Telling It to Congress.” It Is quoted from a speech of Representative Wingo of Arkansas. I have not read the speech. Probably Mr. Wingo qualified the utterance. I hope so; for as it stands, it Is a perfect statement of our most mischievous hokum relating to the business of Government. The efforts of Government to “protect: the weak,” against things which certain people think destroy character, weaken intellect, wreck homes and the like la the greatest evil, but one In our Government. The one evil which surpasses It Is the control of Government by organized wealth. Drink Protection Government has been trying ever since I can remember to protect people against the evils of drink. In my opinion, It has utterly failed. It has caused to be built up an illegal and criminal business in bootlegging and hijacking is far more worse than the saloon business ever was. It stimulates the developing of criminals like O’Banion of Chicago, who died a millionaire the other day, who had such a control over many influential people that many truck-loads of flowers were sent to his funeral and such power among the people generally that 30,000 * were In the crowd. Armed guards kept people from reading the cards which accompanied the flowers. Thirty men were murdered in one month in Chicago in this Illegal traffic. If we had gone along with no temperance laws in the building up of temperance sentiment so splendidly started seventy-five years ago. we should have done something to cure the drink evil. As soon as we began looking upon all drinkers as drunkards, and seeking to protect all drunkards by law Instead of making temperance a personal duty, which every man owes himself, our failure began. Must Protect Selves Government • cannot protect the weak. They must protect themselves. In other words, they must develop strength of character. When government tries to protect people’s characters, it usually prevents

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

BRIGHT HERE IN INDIANA

By GAYLORD NELSON

Drivers mERRY KINNEY, supervisor of detectives, would limit by law the number of persons riding in the driver's seat of an automobile. He mentions the accident last Friday night, In which four young people In a small t coupe were Injured by collision with a Martinsville lnterurban. Overcrowding of the driver’s seat, he believes, was the cause. Three or four persons squeeze!, \ into a space intended for two may seriously cramp a driver’s style. In an NELSON. emergency stepping on his companions’ feet Instead of the brake pedal won’t avert an Impending crash. • However, It would be difficult to frame a law to prevent the practice, v Some individuals, who use small coupes, are large parties. It would be impractical, even for the sake of safety, to subdivide these crowds by law and make them travel in two or more machines. Other persons have only one dimension—length. Four or five such persons wouldn’t crowd any seat. The law would also be perplexed in defining the driver’s seat. Borne motor cars are driven from the lefthand side of the front seat; others are controlled from the rear seat; and others, apparently, run themselvea. Perhaps some accidents are caused by overcrowding the driver's seat — but more result from the great, open, spaces in the driver’s minH Restraint mHE Indiana General Assembly has been In session three weeks. So far only 374 bills have been Introduced Into the Senate and House compared with 479 for the corresponding period of the 1923 session. Os this number sixty-five hav already been indefinitely postponed or withdrawn. If the present pace is continued the 1925 Legislature should be awarded a hand-painted mustache cup in token of appreciation. It is predicted that only about 150 measures will become laws. That’s commendable legislative restraint. Howevere, even then, people of this country will have enough laws to go around. Manufacture of laws is a large scale. American industry. With 'Congress and forty-eight State legislatures grinding away, over 7,000 new statutes are added to the country’s portly total every two years.' The British Parliament feels it is dissipating if it passes twenty-five or thirty acts during a similar period. Yet, whatever the faults of the British empire, it does not suffer chronic anarchy from lack of sufficient laws to restrain, evil-doers. Respect for laws is In Inverse proportion to their number. Legislatures can best serve their States by passing only measures necessary for the conduct of government and restraining their impulses to regulate all the minute ramifications of human conduct.

them from building up character at aIL In any case, the benefit to society of having the weak character protected is mighty questionable. Homes cannot be protected In most cases by anything government can do. They must protect themselves through character. The human race cannot be protected against weakness of character. The true function of government is to protect us against violence and robbery, to keep its hands off In the battle which every soul must wage against Its own weaknesses. The principle embodied in this utterance in Congress Is that under which this country Is tortured and befooled by self-righteous folks legislating against other people’s sins. It Is the soil in which Pharisaism has grown higher and stronged in the United States of America than ever before in the world’s history, and nowhere has this mischivous weed grown more evilly luxuriant than In the Congress of the United States. In New York By JAMES W. DEAN NEW YORK, Feb. 2.—Contributions to the completion of the Cathedhal of St. John the Divine have come from many unusual sources, but the most unique donation is that of $2.76 sent from Spring Valley, N. Y. It represents the savings of Rex Nelson Golden, a boy who died in 1916. His mother had kept the stun Intact since his death. • • * It takes a thief to catch a thief, and it takes one counterfeiter to swindle another counterfeiter. “Home-made” SIOO bills are being sold to bootleggers for S3O each by the fellows who make their “genuine” labels for them. In turn the bootleggers pay for their shipments of hooch with the counterfeit bills, * * * For some time Kitty had been the very docile and very likable pet of Mrs. Bertha Masse of W. EightyFifth St., but when Mrs. Masse returned home the other evening with a stray cat Kitty attacked her mistress. She bit and scratched her face and hands. A policeman was called and Kitty attacked him and he had to shoot her. Jealousy, it might be said, cost nine lives. * • • Vital statistics, just issued, 499 deaths due to alcoholism were reported Ip the medical examiner of New York City in 1924. lln 19ig

Eugenics E*” “1 UGENTCS received the attention of the Senate last week when the bill designed to prevent Incurable mental defectives, charges on society, from becoming progenitors of others like themselves was discussed. It is claimed that mental defectives are Increasing at an alarming rate. If something isn’t done to regulate nature, predict alarmists, the race will deteriorate. It is a gloomy picture. Perhaps, however, modern conditions merely make mental deficiency more, notice- ’ able. A few generations ago any one who was tractable and had a strong back mingled with society unnoticed. Like father like son, asserts the old saw—th truth of which Is abundantly demonstrated. By application of this truth science has improved the breeding of living things from gold fish to prize steers. Enthusiastic eugenicists itch to try similar scientific breeding on the human race. > Breeding supermen, though, is more complicated than breeding prize corn. There Is no agreement as to the goal. To one, human perfection might mean a race beautiful but dumb—to another, men with bulging intellects and puny bodies. Would either be an Improvement on the hit-or-miss plan of Nature? Breeding humans according to the laws of heredity would be an Interesting experiment. Then man could blame all his faults on bis ancestors. That would releive him of all personal responsibility for his acts. Monument A. SUKER, lighting expert of the General Electric ComChamber of Commerce a plan for flood-lighting the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. He estimates that an adequate system of Illumination will cost $20,000, for which the annual upkeep would be $1,600. Modem, scientific flood-lighting should be installed for this superb piece of memorial art. The cost will be trifling compared with the results. At present the monument works only on a half-time schedule. During daylight It pierces the skyline majestically. Upon arrival of darkness, however, the mighty shaft calls it a day and retires from public view. For any ocular evidence to the contrary it may step down and spend Its nights In a rented room. The ancient and honorable candelabra now employed do not"llium-' lnate It. The feeble light they emit has to fight for its life in the Immediate vicinity. That light has no energy to spare for illuminating other objects. The monument should not thus work only part time. Properly illuminated at bight it will be a thing of beauty. It will appear not to be constructed of heavy stone, but of the shimmering stuff dreams are made of—Hoosier dreams—dreams of brave days and gallant men—dreams that will make the heart of Indiana beat a little faster and truer.

Ask The Times You cmn get an anirwer to any question ol fact or information by writing t<> The Indianapolis Times Washington Bureau, 1323 New York Are.. Washington. P. C.. 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 letters are confidenHow many times did Gladstone hold the office of Premier of Great Britain? Four times. Why does sulphur turn jewelry black? _ Because it reacts with metals in such a way as to form sulphides which are black in color. It Is not injurious and can be polished <■ off? CJan a cat be cured of jumping at canaries? It is very difficult. About the only thing to do is to place the cage out of reach and whip and scold the cat every time he attempts to attack the bird. Why does an object seem lighter in water than in air? Because the density of water being greater than that of air, the difference in the weight of an object as compared with that of the medium in which it rests, is decreased. What are the requirements of a watch used by railroad men on trains? One prominent railroad’s requirements are: Not less than seventeen jewels; five positions, heat and cold; screw case, front and back; front lever set; must not vary more than thirty seconds per week. What is the relative speed of a greyhound and a horse? It is said that a greyhound has a speed equal to that of a trained race horse, on a raCe track, and would be able to outrun a race hcrse on rough ground. is the capital of Norway? Oslo. It was changed from Christiania on Jan. 1, 1926. What kind of vegetables are good for leaking blood? Spinach, carrots and other like vegetables that contain a large percentage of iron. Why is May 19, 1780, called the Dark Day in .New England? Because a remarkable and unexj gained darkness extended over all o? Neiv Ungland on that day, very | pjObably, however, due to -smoke

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WHEN WORLD WAS TO END

By N. D. COCHRAN rrraHEN you real now and then VU of someone who says the world is about to come to an end, and Is so sure of it that he sells or gives away his earthly possessions, you may wonder how the poor fellow gets that way. But It is nothing new. Only about eighty years ago thousands of people in New York, ’Massachusetts ard neighboring States were seized by a similar delusion. f These were known as the Millerites, the name coming from William Millen. then living on a farm near Low Hampton, N. Y. He was a close student of the Bible and became convinced from his reading of the book of Daniel that the time was near at hand for the second coming of Christ. He began talking It to rural communities In the eighteenthirties, announcing that the day of judgment was at hand and that the world was going to burn up and all the picked people with It, while the good were to be gathered up and carried to Heaven. This prophecy spread through the rural communities, was believed by thousands, and finally seized upon vast numbers of people in New York, Boston and other cities. Finally it was announced that the end would come in 1843, about March

Free Land Available

Times 'Washlnaton Bureau, IS2 New York Avenue. rrrriASHINGTON, Feb. 2—Al|Yly though United States agents I have been doling out public land ' energetically for the last hundred years, Uncle Sam still has some 185,000,000 acres of public lands, much of which is available to settlers for almost nothing. Last year 13,886 homestead entries were made with the United States Land Offices. This is all land within the borders of the United States proper. Up In Alasaka, the Government has 350,000,000 acres of land additional, which Is available to persons with a pioneering spirit who want to carve homes and~ farms out of the virgin wilds. ‘ Curiously, In spite of the great waves of homosteading in the past century, there still exists public land in every State west of the Mississippi, exeept lowa, There Is some in Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi for those who iike the climate of the South. In Michigan there is still public land. Some of this land is good, some is not. In Oregon there is very good homestead land available for settlers willing to pay $2.60 an acre and promise to stay on the land and develop It. This Oregon land Is per-

A Grand Slam!

Do you play bridge? How’s your game? Do you know the fine points? Can you estimate” the value of your hand correctly? Do you “get set” when you needn’t? Do you know how to bid? Do you know how to lead properly? Do you know when and when not to “double?” Do you know when to make an initial bid of two Do you know when to “taka your partner out?” Can you estimate properly the support you o iould have to “raise” your partner’s bid? Do you know what rights you

CLIP COUPON HERE

BRIDGE EDITOR, Washington Bureau The Indianapolis Times, 1322 New York Ave., Washington, D. C. I want a copy of th© bulletin, HOW TO PLAIT BRIDGE, and enclose herewtlh 6 cents In loose postage stamps for same: ? ' ' '/' - ' Name St. and No. or R R.. ,‘ - _ ■'• ■ Oity .....M,..,., • *•••*• * State I am a reader of Th© Indianapolis Times. f IT .^ r .- , , , , -M j- r--j- -a

At thq Head of His Class

20. Before the definite date was fixed Miller had said that Christ would appear a second time in the clouds of Heaven during 1343 or 1844; that He would raise the righteous dead and judge them with the righteous living; that He would take the righteous up to Heaven with Him, while He would purify the earth with fire, burning up the wicked and shutting their souls up in hell with the devil and his angsls, and* that the saints would live and rule with Christ on earth for a thousand years. At first the date of the second com ing was fixed for April, 1843, but as nothing happened then, October was announced as the time for the world to come to an end, and, as October approached, the deluded Millerites everywhere began to get ready to “go up.” Many of them gave away all their earthly possessions. Most of them made white ascension robes, and when the wonderful day was upon them many went up on to the roofs of houses In t.helr ascension robes and some climbed Into the treetops, while others in hilly country went to the hilltops. In 1843 a great comet became visible, and was taken as an omen. Os course, there was much suffering when the day of disillusionment came. Some got their property

haps the best homestead land left for those who wish to farm* It must be cleared of trees. In many States the Government still has great areas of semi-arid land suitable for grazing. However, would-be settlers must show that they have the means to stock these ranches. It is a hard game, one requiring experience, and the Land Office has learned from experience how to pick settlers who can stick it out. Those who do, get large land holdings. In some desert districts, homesteading is going on at a rapid pace. Certain of these desert districts are the only public lands, which can be acquired without the homesteader living on them. Well-to-do city men. In some Instances, have gone into these regions, or sent their engineers, to drill wells, farm on a businesslike scale, and have made it a paying proposition. Thta Is about the only way some of these areas can be settled up. The largest areas of homestead lands left are in the Rocky Mountain region, the far west and southwest. Practically all of this land is desert or semi-arid, involving considerable effort before crops are possible. -

have when you are “dummy?” Can you play good bridge? Our Washington Bureau has ready now a concise, informative bulletin on bridge playing hints that will be useful to you whether you are a novice or an experienced player. If you want to learn this fascinating and scientific game this bulletin will help make the start easier. If you know how to play this bulletin will help to improve your game. If you want it fill out the’ coupon below and mail as directed.

MONDAY, FEB. 2, 1925

back; others didn’t. These latter faced the world anew, but many of them became inmates of Insane asylums. The newspapers of the day were full of stories of the tremendous excitement that grew out of Miller’s prophecies, the scenes of religious fervor at his meetings and the preparations for the great day. During the period of this religious excitement, Harriet Livermore, beautiful daughter of Judge Livermore, United States Congressman from Lowell, Mass., preached the second coming to crowds In many parts of the country and on several occasions In the House of Representatives at Washington. Income Tax The basis for computing the amount deductible on account of depreciation and obsolescence upon property acquired after Feb. 28, 1913, is, in general the cost of such property. In the case of property acquired before March 1, 1913, the basis is the cost of the property, or Its fair market value as of that date, whichever is greater. To compute the amount of depreciation which may be claimed, the taxpayer should determine the probable life of the property, then divide by the number of years it will be useful in the business In which employed. The result thus obtained will represent the amount which may be claimed as a deduction. For example, a frame building, the probable lifetime of which la twenty-five years, cost SIO,OOO. Divide SIO,OOO by twentyfive and claim S4OO each year as & deduction. If a taxpayer claims the full amount of depreciation he can not claim as a deduction the cost of repairs to the property daring the same year. “Repairs” in this connection means repairs In the nature of replacements to the extent that they arrest deterioration, such as a new flooring or roof. When, in the course of years, the owner of the property has claimed its full cost, no further claim for de- , predation will be allowed. \ Deductions for depreciation must be made as a separate item of the taxpayer’s return, and must be explained by showing separately each class of property, its cost, estimated life, depreciation charged off for the taxable year and total depreciation charged off for all taxable years. Tom Sims Says A smoker in London has 6,860 pipes, which Is almost enough to find one when he is in a hurry. Women can vote in South Africa now. They got it from us. It’s about equal. We got earrings from them. Lion in a London zoo had had eyes. They made him soma glasses, but he may insist on a monocle soon. German professor has taught a fish to do tricks. We saw a man teach one to buy an old auto. Berlin women can’t smoke in public places. That’s on a way to make them want to start smoking. Fat woman in a London sideshow married a poet. Serves him right. Constantinople countess Is advertising for her lost lizard a real lizard, not a lounge lizard. They shot a vaudeville performer g in Manchester, Eng., who was not a * bicycle rider, roler skater or acrobat. Isn’t It funny how nice this winter looked last summer? Buenos Aires is South America’s largest city. It doesn’t matter, but we just wondered If South Americans can pronounced New York. Every day now the weather is doing something it hasn’t done sines way back yonder long ago.