Indianapolis Times, Volume 38, Number 193, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 November 1926 — Page 6

PAGE 6

The Indianapolis Times ROY W. HOWARD, President. BOYD GURLEY, Editor. , - WM. A. MAYBORN, Bus. 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 dally except Sunday by Indianapolis Time s Publishing Cos., 214-220 W. Maryland St, Indianapolis • * * Subscription Rates; Indianapolis—Ten Cents a Week. Elsewhere—Twelve Cents a Week * * • PHONE—MA In 3500.

No law shall be passed restraining the free interchange of thought and opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write, or print freely, on any subject whatever.—Constitution of Indiana. -

HERESAY CHARGES No injunction has been granted against the public service commission, preventing it from hearing the petition of the financiers who want to put the two electric companies Into one and put out securities on the combination to the extent of more than fiftylive millions of dollars. The corporation counsel of this city charged that the commission is prejudiced in advance because of contributions made to the campaign fund of the Governor. He made a very definite charge, definite as to amount, definite as to the time, definite as to the purpose. There can be no criticism of the Judge who refused an injunction. The law, being an exact science, has exact methods or producing what it calls justice. It must assume that public servants are honest. It can later set aside their verdicts if they are proven to be otherwise. i Popular thought should properly be directed to one of the comments of attorneys for the corporations affected and the attorney general of the State. They declared that the charge made by Attorney Rucker were based on heresay, suspicion and rumor. The| public might be most properly interested in knowing just how and when and where such definite charges could be started, why they started and why they gained such general circulation as to become rumors. If that light wave of the legal hand be true, the public has the right to know why such charges gain circulation in this State at this time. Surely they'are not the product of imagination. That gives too much credit for genius to some unknown scandal monger. For the rumors, if they be rumors, fit the facts too well to be the result of mere imagery. A rumor must have a start. It can be started, of course, by a malignant mind. Or it may start from whispered conferences, or louder protests of indignation. The one thing in which the public is interested is in knowing whether there is any real truth behind this. The court will, in due time, investigate as far as that-truth may affect the ultimate decision it may make and the public will not interfere in that inquiry. But the public also has a right to other investigations that will reveal the source of this story and these charges, and when that is found it will have a remarkable effect on public confidence. Sometimes heresay evidence is the best evidence. Often the truth is had in that manner which cannot be forced from unwilling lips through legal channels. Perhaps the best test of this rumor is to ask the simple question as to whether the commission in its decisions and its actions has conducted itself in a manner as to support belief in the rumor. Would any of its decision have been different were this charge true? Has it ever rendered a decision which would affront any of those charged as being a part of a general conspiracy? Has it ever given a decision which would indicate that there is no special favoritism for the forces which were charged with attempting to control 'its membership and its organization? Has it been unduly friendly to the corporations of this State in the matter of rates or permits? Has it been extremely zealous to protect the dollars of the people who are taxed for light and heat and telephone service and water and street railway transportation? Has it been a public service commission or a public utility commission? These are inquiries which the public may at this time make with the greatest of propriety while 'the courts are investigating any legal phases of the grave charge of conspiracy made by the attorney for this city. And upon that Inquiry may be based a public judgment as to what should be done about this commission. The decisions the commission have rendered are not heresay charges. They are translated into dollars that are paid by the public. Quite it would be very unfortunate if the commission should decide any important case until all the facts, not only epneerning its own political background but also l concerning the particular case, are given fully and completely to those who will pay the bills. THE SOURCE OF POWER The gracious queen, great as well as gracious, has come and gone. The tribute she received was well deserved, not only for-her own sake but because she is of the last descendants of the long line that from the days of ancient Rome has challenged and beat back the forces of barbarism. Her ancestry reaches back to days when a power came to ttnSe who took their stand against encroaching evils, who with their hands forced down the challengers of progress. She has that heritage, even though it be masked by that discarded theory that there is a divine right of some to rule others, that some there are who are born to domination and to power. She comes from the unbeaten race of AngloSaxons, and that perfiaps is her glory and her source of power. < How envious must have been those of present power who gave her welcome, had they but considered their own source of power and greatness. To what lineage could they trace their selection to the high places, the sqats among the mighty? What glory could they find as a background of tradition which would lead them, as she was led in the days of the World War, to heoric heights of sacrifice to protect those they represent? How unfortunate that the sunlight of glory is, in these decadent days, shadowed by crossed bars, that must forever dim its radiance, forever darken ambition, hopes and Ideals. Let it be hoped that those who sat and watched and thought lose none of their faith in their own fitness to rule themselves. Let it be hoped that none, caught by the wonder of a wonderful woman, be led to believe that possibly there is more to inheritance by birth than legacy from celL This land boasts that it grants to no man the

right to rule another through any chance of birth. Some day it will make good that boast by also refusing to permit the selfish, the tricky or the to place mortgages upon their servants. IF THE ARMY’S NO USE TO US, SCRAP IT! While President Cooliage was telling the world at Kansas City that “wo realize thoroughly that no one will protect us unless we protect ourselves,” his Administration was reducing our Army from 118,000 enlisted men to 110,000 because rations had gone up 3 cents per man. In his Armistice Day address the President could not resist the temptation to boast a little of our prosperity and wealth, yet at that moment his Administration was preparing to drop 8,000 men from the national defense because the United States is too poor to feed its defenders. What an amazing situation! General Pershing tells us we might have ended the war in 1917 had we been ready when we declared war. As we were decidedly not ready Armageddon continued another unnecessary year. Our net expenditures in that year amounted to $22,500,000,000. And wo were forced to lend another $11,000,000,000 to our allies—which money we will never collect. Our total outlay, therefore, was some $33,000,000,000. Had we ended the war in 1917 instead of a year later our saving would have been at least $15,000,000,000, not counting the interest which wo will go on paying for decades to come. . The national foreign trade council has figured out that the world lost $210,000,000,000 in trade as a result of the war. That is, the war dragged on so long, and left the world in such bad shape, that business is just now getting back on a 1913 basis. Suppose we had cut off that fourth and most expensive year of the war: The world would have saved at least a third of what it lost in trade, or $70,000,000,000. And yet when we come to deal with our Army and Navy—our national defense, the machinery which must bear the brunt of our next war if and when we have one—we let things like three cents extra cost of a meal decide the size of our forces! Three cents a day per meal for 8,000 men amounts to $720, or $262,800 a year. That is about one-fifth of one cent per person in the United States. Each moist cigaret stub which you throw away several times daily represents more money than that! And that fifth of a cent is standing in the way of a proper Army—men who might at any time be called upon to save the United States from another thirtythree billion outlay and the world another 210 billion dollar loss of trade. Purposely we are leaving the human element entirely out of th picture. The value of human life is estimable. Either our Army is no bigger than it should be or it is. If, as the President himself has intimated from time to time, it is already at a minimum, to be of use, then a three-cent increase in the cost of a meal nor yet a $3 Increase Is any excuse for reducing its size. And if it is too big, then it ought to be reduced even if the men coul'd be fed for nothing. We’re not supporting an Army because it’s cheap but because it’s necessary. The Government of the biggest, richest, most prosperous country on the face of the globe deciding its policies of national defense according to whether rations cost three cents more or less! What a ghastly joke it is! We offer our sympathy today to the lady who has just taken her coat out of moth balls and entered a crowded, hermetically sealed street car. HE’S WRONG ABOUT OUR GOVERNMENT By N. D. Cochran- 1 - ■■ If the Catholic church were to set up a political lobby of priests In Washington and attempted to control legislation, a loud howl would go up all over the country. If members of such a lobby were to assert that one of the objects of the Government is tA promote religion, and the Catholic religion, another howl would go up. I think I would join in both howls. But the Methodist church does maintain a political lobby in Washington, and does attempt to influence legislation. That lobby is known as the Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Morals of the Methodist Episcopal Church. And no howl goes up, except this feeble howl from one who is Methodist bred and Methodist born, though probably not Methodist till I die. Rev. Clarence True Wilson Is head lobbyist. In the current issue of Forum, he says: "The fact that a nation undertakes to have the church and State separate does not nullify the fact that the church and state are partially working toward the same objects, the promotion of religion, morality and education, the peace and order of society—in short, the public welfare-” There Is no warrant anywhere In the American Constitution for any such statement, so far as the promotion of religion is concerned. The makers of the Constitution took mighty good care to see that the establishment of any religion was forbidden. The church —any church —may go as far as it likes in peaceably promoting its particular .brand of religion; but not the State, or the Government. If it is a function of the State to promote religion, then it must promote some religion. It can't promote all religions. If It did it would have to promote Confucianism, Mohammedanism, Shintoslm and all other religions as well as Christianity. But even if this particular Government were to bar the others and confine itself to Christianity, what particular brand of Christianity would it promote? Will it promote Methodism, Catholicism, Baptistism, Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, Episcopaleanism or some other Christian ism? The truth Is, of course, that no matter what any citizen’s religion happens to be, it is none of the Government’s business. There is no established church in this republic. Mohammedanism, Shintoism or even Atheism is just as legal as Christianity. The State has nothing whatever to do with any citizen’s religion beyond protecting him in his constitutional right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience and to attend any church he wants to. But the lobby, of which Rev. Mr. Wilson is the active and vociferous head, isn’t, even promoting the Methodist religion. It can’t be promoted by political legislation. Fighting the use of alcohol or tobacco | isn’t promoting religion. One may use either and still be a good Chrlsdan, or abstain from the use of both and still be a poor Christian. Thq Methodist Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Morals Isn’t promoting religion in Washington. It la playing politics at so much per play for the professional Christian lobbyists.

.THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Tracy New York District Attorney Combats Crime With Efficiency,

By M. li. Tracy Every trade and profession has its high spot, Its outstanding example of what can be done, its supreme achievement of challenge, the ambition arid fire of the soul of youth. There is but one Mayo clinic, one Taj Mahal, one General Electric Company and one district .attorney’s office. Though of world-wide scope the prosecution of crime comes to Its climax in the establishment on Manhattan Island over which Joab Banton presides. Here is the biggest thing of its kind on earth. Here you behold the last woid in system, organization and efficiency. -I- -I- -I- • Reversed Usual Order Joab Banton came to New York thirty-one years ago, a tall lean Texan, who defied the general order of things by traveling east for a career. He was not only a Democrat, but a Protestant, and It does not square with Ku-Klux Klan propaganda that he should have climbed to one of the two biggest positions within the gift of Tammany Hall. Robert F. Wagner, just elected to the United States Senate as a Tammany candidate, is also a Protestant. New Y"ork is not so narrow or Intolerant as some folks would have you believe, and there Is more to A1 Smith's popularity than his religion. -I- -I- IMakes Office Bigger Joab Banton’s peculiar service as distriict attorney consists In the fact that he has made the office bigger, instead of using the office to make himself bigger. To his way of thinking, it is not an office, but an institution. He calls It "our plant.” It is his pet theory that law enforcement must adopt modern methods to be effective, and he has shown how this can b® done. He planned the nine-story building which he and his force of 231 persons occupy, devised many of the filing systems and co-ordinated the work. The result is a model which other prosecutors would be well to study, and after which some have already patterned to the great advantage of their communities. -I- -!- -IFoe of Trial Delay Banton’s idea is that speed and accuracy are just as desirable in law enforcement is in othe. lines. Putting aside the injustice done to those accused, he says that a case loses 60 per cent of its strength from the prosecutor’s standpoint if delayed six months. He thinks that delay has been measurably responsible for the Increase of crime; that it has permitted many guilty persons to evade punishment and encourage others to , think they can do the same. •1* -I- -IJustice With Mercy On the other hand he is not In favor of too severe punishment, or ot statutes which deprive prosecutors and judges of their discretionary power. There are exceptions to all rules, he contends, and no rule should be made so inflexible that those in position to know the circumstances cannot alter It. In the prosecution and punishment of crime, he says, we must yield to expert knowledge and special training - , just as wc do in other matters, and not undertake to get the result by a lot of castlron regulations that work automatically. -I- -I- -IStringent New Law New York Is attempting to stop the crime wave by making punishments vastly more severe. The recently adopted Baumes Law provides that any person convicted of the fourth felony shall be sentenced for life. There are no exceptions. No jnatter what the circumstances, or what the district attorney or judge may think, the sentence is mandatory. A Brooklyn Negro took $l6O from his employer. He had been convicted of three felonies In his youth and this exposed him to life imprisonment under the Baumes law. Because he had gone straight for many years and had paid the money back, while his employer expressed willingness to give him another chance, the judge thought life Imprisonment too severe and permitted him to plead guilty as a second offender. When he got to Sing Sing, however, the warden looked up his record and sent him back with a demand that the Baumes law be enforced. Insists on Exceptions District Attorney Banton Is not wholly in sympathy with the Baumes law, or with the Idea that severity Is the all-important factor of law enforcement. Willing to admit that most persons guilty of the fourth felony deserve no less than life Imprisonment, he still believes there are exceptions, and that room should be left to deal justly by them. Besides, It is his Idea that certainty of detection promises more as a crime deterrent than drastic penalties. •I* -I- -IView of Criminal Criminals are le3s concerned with what the law provides than with the chance of getting caught. They do not start out with the idea of spending so many years in prison, but of avoiding arrest. It is against police efficiency that they weigh the game. What this country needs most is not bombastic statutes, but the sheriff who gets his man, the chief of police who can keep his force wide awake and the detective is not to be bought off or fooled.

Fred Ardath Has New Tunes Ready for Today’s Offering at the Palace

With stiill more humor and songs that will be new to Indianapolis audiences, Fred Ardath will continue the new policy at the Palace Theater the last half of this week. His twenty entertainers are all ready to prolong the state of merriment at the theater and will introduce many more novelties. Chauncey Gray’s Versatile Four promises some more unique entertainment and Miss Clarie Hanson, the leading lady, is given an entirely different rale. "Those Days Are Over,” declares George Wagner; "two komlcal kusses” and Miss Lela. These funsters have something original to offer In chatter, song and dance novelties. Miss Lela wears gowns of the latest fashion. Sidney Meyers and Harriet Nolan are a singer and a dancer. Miss Noland sings her own compositions. Mr. Meyers is an eccentric stepper. Fred Ireland's song and dance offering is the flash act "Let's Go”, which has a second place on the bill. The photoplay with Anita Stewart and Edmund Burns is "Whispering Wires,” said to be a thrilling melodrama taken from the stage hit whicli proved so popular along Broadway. Mystery and science join hands in the action of the piece weaving around a young girl and her father. Two men have set out to murder these two because of a crooked business deal. A lonely haunted house with its lower chambers inhabited and known only by one of the desperadoes is one of the film’s attractions. A telephone Is used as a muderous device to kill the father and daughter. The parent is shot, and plans are ready for the death of the girl when the climax comes. Pathe News, comedy and topics of the day are the reels. -I- -I- -IIndianapolls theaters today offer: ‘Ben-Hur,” at English’s: Nicola, at Keith’s! Jeanne Alexander, at the Lyric; Fred Ardath, at the Palace: Ben Lyon, at the Circle; “The Old Soak,” at the Uptown; "The Return of Peter Grimm,” at the Colonial; "Love’s Blindness,” at the Ohio; "Kosher Kitty Kelly,” at the Apollo; new show at the Isis and “Speed Girls of 1927,” at the Mutual.

Child’s Test

Here’s a test for the children. Study the questions and see how many you can answer. Then turn to page 3 so- the correct answers: 1 — What Is wrong with the accompanying picture? 2 How many hours are there in a iponth of thirty days? 3 Who was President of the United States when the Monroe Doctrine was declared? 4 Os what political party wag President Andrew Johnson? 6 —Correct this sentence: From who did you get them books? 6ln the game of checkers, may a man Jump more than one opposing checker? 7ls the shape of the earth a perfect globe? 8 — Who was th© 7 Roman god of war? 9ls an automobile owner required to have a Federal license to drive his car?

10—What Is the largest city In the State! of Colorado?

A LITTLE ADVICE FROM THE GALLERY

Variety Team on Times Program

Under their vaudeville title, The Ramblers, Paddle Fiume, harmonica, and Barney Galbreath, ukulele and

DEATH MARKETS OF FAR EAST ARE TOLD Noted Magician Tells of His Experiences With Strange Suicide Plan in the Orient. .

By Nicola, .Magician, Appearing , at Keith’s. The murder market of America pales into insignificance in comparison to death dealing in the Far East. In fact, human life in the Far East Is held so cheap that traffickers in doom oft-times refuse to shuffle fate, claiming there is not enough profit in it for them. And yet, for 25 cents in our money you can get a Coolie knocked off in China, or a Kaffir sent where they relate no tales, in Zululand. “Two bits a head’’ is about the nominal sum asked for “an easy killing.’’ Os course, If you want a notable or a fairly prominent denizen of the Far East bumped off, you might have to spend a couple of American dollars. But death and bananas are on a par. They have plenty of both. They both come in bunches. There are plenty of them and nothing is thought of it. Suicides are falling over each other. One poor fellow approached me on the streets of Zanzibar with a wicked looking knife in one hand and another Zulu instrument of slaughter in the other. He chanted vociferously in his native tongue, all the time making passes with the two cutting instruments in the vicinity of his throat. Candidly, I was plumb scared. I thought he was preparing to cut me up for dinnt:\ But, when he saw that he could not make me understand what the cutting was all about, he let out a yell and fled, knives and all. I had not forgotten the unusual incident, so when I perceived the knife-juggler approaching me again the next day, I hastened away from that place. But he overtook me and started his pantomime of blades all over again. A friend of mine came upon the scene and I appealed to him to find out what the Kaffir was selling, if anything. Selling His life He was selling his life, it seemed, for his daughter was to be married the following week-end and he was broke and wished to present his daughter with a dowry by giving some morbid person the exclusive

Paddie Fiume and Barney Galbreath

vocal, will appear on The Times radio program over WFBM Friday night from the studio at the Severin.

first-run rights to seeing him commit suicide for $lO. I gave him $lO and told him to ask a better price, or, better, to forget eternity and try and go to work and make his daughter happy. He thanked me and promised he would postpone the obsequisies. I learned from my friend that suicides at $lO a peek were very common. It Is permissible In the Far East for persons doomed to be oxecutcd to pay sacrlflcers to take their place In death. A big business Is done this way. those elected to die changing places with others, who turn the money they received over to relatives or loved ones. The authorities admit there Is an organized murder band, with agencies in all of the large cities. In the Far East, they will kill for the toss of a small coin. The most striking example of how cheaply they regard the human life occurred when Immet the Zulu King of Africa. He was eager for me to do my stuff, but everybody In Africa, Including the King, seemed to be short of cash and tho prospects of getting a theater and the necessary paraphernalia and equipment for my debut seemed doubtful. Finally, however, my premiere performance was arranged. As the natives had no money to spend for entertainment, it was agreed that bags of wheat were to be accepted In lieu of currency for admission. The show was a great success and we amassed more than 6,000 bags of wheat for our pains. Sells Wheat I didn’t know what to do with the wheat and wished to exchange it for negotiable funds and leave for other parts. A trader agreed to buy the wheat and, feeling Indebted to the King, who was a good fellow in his own weird way, I threw a party for him and his gang. It is the custom in Zululand that no King or high .official, or, in fact, anyone bearing any distinction, should go to the trouble of feeding himself. The Kaffirs pass the food to the lips of the King and hl:< associates. If the native's fingers as

NOV. 18, 1926

Questions and Answers

You can get an answer to any Mon of fact or information by writtiufl to Tho lmli:ui.UM)liH Times WimbinvtoiM Bureau. 132” New York Ave., Wnulling-” tou, D. C„ inclosing 2 cents in stanuis for reply. Medicvu, left a 1 and marital ad via) cannot bo Riven nor can extended research bo undertaken. All other questions will receive a personal reply. Unsiirned requests cannot bo answered. All letters are confidential.—Editor. Who was “Charles, tho Simple?” King Charles 111 of Franco (870* 929), the posthumus son of Louis, the Stammerer. Are there four or five nations holding permanent scats In the Council of tlie Ixtague of Nations? Wlu> decides what nation* sluti! be represented in the coiuitil? There ore five permanent seats held by England, France, Italy, Japan and Germany. The first four together with the United States were designated In tho covenant of the league, which Is jsirt of tho Versailles Treaty. The United States of course, having rejected the treaty, never claimed Its seat on the league council. Germany was admitted by action of the assembly. The enlargement of membership In the council of the league Is decided by the assembly of the league composed of delegates of nil the nations that are members of It. Which of the lake cities hold first rank in the shipment of coal? According to the annual report of the Lake Carrier’s Association 1925, Toledo, Ohio, ranks first as|fl lake port for shipping soft coal, wltff Sandusky second. Buffalo and Erie, New York lead in the lake shipment of hard coal. Is there any way to remove permanently the hair on a girl’s upper Up? A Reader of The Times There are some dlpllatorles on tho market guaranteed to remove hair permanently. The electric needlo also Is used. I have the cubic feet of a corn crib. llow can I find the number of bushels It will hold? Reader. There are 2150.42 cubic Inches in 'a bushel. Find the number of cubic inches in your crib by multiplying the cubic feet by 144. Then divide this answer by 2150.42 and tho answer will be the number of bushels your crib will hold. For Instance if your crib is 10x1 o.\ 10 there are 1,000 cubic feet of space. Multiply this by 144 cubic inches in a foot and you have 144,000.00 cubic inches ir: the crib. Divide this by 2150.42 and you have 60 nnd approximately 67 bushels, (1) Was Hie motion picture, “One i Minute to Go,” a racing or fooihall play? (2) Was the stnr Douglas MacLean? If not, who was the stnr? (1) “One Minute to Go” was a football play. Red Grange was the star. (2) Douglas Mac Lean was tho star of “The Quarterback,” also a football play. Mk What Is a proselyte? A person won over to a different religion, sect or party. What Is the value of a 50-crnt piece dated 1825. It Is valued at 50 to 55 cents. What would yon suggest putting In a box lunch? Sandwiches, pie, cake and fruit. Our space in this column does not permit us to go into detail. lias a person the right to hanl passengers In his automobile without first, securing a license? If yoti charge passengers for rides you must have a license In Indianapolis. but you do not need a license for i conveying your friends. Give a short sketch of the life of Mollie Pitcher. Mollie Pitcher was born probably ’ at Carlisle, Pa., 1744, and died in ' 1823. Her maiden name was Mary Ludwig. Ilcr first husband was John Hayes, an artillerist in tho Rev olutionary army, and she accompanied him on his campaigns. She is remembered for her exploits of Fort Clinton and the bnttlo of Mnnmoutli She was commissioned a sergeant I ■ Washington. After the death i 7 Hayes she married George McCauley. A monument was erected for her ut Monmouth and over her grave at Carlisle, commemorating her deeds. What Is the full name of '‘Mitzl” ' the actress? When and where was she born? I She was born In Budapest, HunI gary, April 27, 1891. Her real nanu- | Is Magdelena Hajos; she was ly known as Mitzl Hajos. Why is the atmosphere colder at a high altitude than it is elose to the earth? Tho earth’s atmosphere is a blanket. of air, heaviost near the earth and thinner and lighter, the farther one ascends from tho surface. Rays of the sun penetrate this atmosphere, just as they penetrate through glass. ; Heat is generated by contact of the rays with the earth. The blanket of atmosphere retains this heat just as it is retained under the glass roof of a conservatory, although tho air blanket permits It to disperse gradually. The higher one rises above the earth tho thinner the air and the more rapid, therefore, the dispersion of heat. Consequently, at high altitudes, the heat being dissipated much more rapidly, the colder It Is. much as touch the lips of the King or anyone they are feeding, they are put to death immediately. Four natives were executed during the banquet and I left Zululand with a feeling that something should be done to convince the Zulus that life and death are more than a fantasy. But I was prompted to say nothing of the slaying and advised that killing is the first primitive thought in the Far East. It is rather an but highly commercialized. At all times, however, I stow treated with tho utmost respect and reverence by the natives and the King, himself, and given every courtesy and consideration. Americans rarely aro harmed in the Far East. But the natives have that, playful habit, of exterminating themselves •while the King keeps a boxscore of the events. Tommorw: “Matching Money and Magic.”