Indianapolis Times, Volume 38, Number 229, Indianapolis, Marion County, 30 December 1926 — Page 4

PAGE 4

The Indianapolis Times ROY W. HOWARD, President. BOYD GURLEY, Editor. WM. A. MAYBORN, Bos. Mgr. Member of the Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance • • • Client of the United Press and the NBA Service • • * Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Published dally 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.

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. f \ ,

MEXICO Shrouded in ambiguities, technicalities and downright reticence on the part of our State Department and Secretary Kellogg, nevertheless a serious crisis in the relationship of this country with Mexico is due to come to a head on New \ear s day or immediately afterIt is a crisis that, if Kellogg could be taken seriously, might mean war along our Southern border before the end of January. On New Year’s day new RJexican land laws revoking fee simple titles of American oil companies on the Mexican seaboard will go Into effect. These laws were provided for in the 1917 Mexican constitution. In place of fee simple titles, Mexico offers fiftyyear leases to the oil companies. The exchange has been accepted by foreign companies, and some American ones. Nevertheless the last heard from Kellogg was that he still considered the Mexican proceedings confiscatory. The note was in the form of an ultimatum, and was followed up by charges by a State Department official that the whole Mexican government was Bolshevik anyway. And there the matter rests —at least until Saturday. Mexico has kept mum, and presumably will put her land laws into effect on schedule. When that happens, what does Kellogg intend to do? Washington opinion is that it is not war, but what is called “severance of diplomatic relations,” and a lifting the present embargo on shipment of arms across the border, that is threatened. Washington officials talking about “severance of diplomatic relations’’ with Mexico are discussing a futile, silly and even dangerous program. In the first place, the political balance in Mexico Is such, and the itch among certain special interests on this side of the border for interference and Intrigue is such, that that kind of action might easily mean anew Mexican revolution, or even another ten-year reign of terror like that which followed the downfall of Diaz. The present Calles-Obregon regime in Mexico is not ideal in the American view. Newspapers and individuals are sometimes censored or intimidated. The ballot is not the purest thing in the world and there seems to be some corruption of officials. However, taxes are collected, the budget is balanced, highways and telegraph lines aro being built and schools established. Over an dabove all, there is peace. These are admittedly the great needs of Mexico if she is ever to become an economically and socially successful country and they are being met now better than ever before. This is the Mexican apple cart of progress which may be kicked over by hasty United States action. This because simply of the hypothetical difference in value to a few American oil companies between fee simple titles and 50-year leases. No operated oil field last fifty years. All oil men know that lease holders who operate their leases are as well protected, so far as oil Is concerned, under the fifty-year lease as under ownership in fee simple. It may be different with speculators who get leases to hold and sell. Incidentally it would be well to remember that nobody is going to produce much oil in Mexico during the next ten yearß if war breaks out there. Mexico cannot go on forever as today, a pauper nation at our back squatting on a large portion of the best land and richest mineral and power resources of this continent. The Mexican people themselves cannot afford to sit still and starve on the edge of that gold mine. From hod carriers to corporation presidents, Americans have a legitimate right to insist that within a reasonable length of time Mexico shall become a country where trade can expand and natural resources be developed. There are just two possible ways to achieve this result. One would be for the United States to step into Mexico right away with a big enough army and take over the government and police the country for the next twenty years—long enough to see to It ourselves that the peons are taught to read and write and vote intelligently, railroads and highways built and industries actually established on the American plan. The other way is for us to consistently sit tight and give the Mexicans a fair chance to do this big job for themselves and In their own way. This course dictates that we be firm in our resolution to keep hands off all Mexican affairs not of absolutely vital Importance to our national life. There can be no half way policy of meddling, snooping after alleged bolshevik plots outside our ijurisdictlon, or manufacturing of “crises" out of farfetched grievances of special interest groups like those of the present complaining oil companies. American officials who talk today about severing relations with Mexico over the oil business are not talking about going to war, and they certainly are not embracing any hands off policy. They do not propose to take over the job of running Mexico, but the;> do propose to make it as hard as possible for the Mexican government to attend to its own business. This is ridiculous. What a sane American Mexican policy requires if. someone in authority to make a definite decision about that which our Government can stick to. What chiefly embarrasses our relationship with Mexico today Is a State Department that teeters first on one foot and then on the other like a young girl, Picking a daisy, “He loves me; he loves me nt.” AMERICAN NEWS CENSORSHIP ? From several directions at once the charge is being made that the United States has put the lid on communication between this country and Nicaragua. i This in many respects Is the most serious accusation yet aimed against this Government in connection with its intervention in the Nicaraguan fighting to favor one rival president against the other. In Washington there was exhibited yesterday a photostatic copy of a Postal Telegraph-Cable Company notice, dated Washington, D. C., Dec. 27. It is to Mr. E. Carazo Morales, stopping at one of the hotels. It says; “Your telegram of Dec. 25, addressed to Relaclones (minister of foreign relations), Puerto Cabezas (capital of the liberal revolutionary forces

of Dr. Juan Sacasa), has not been delivered for the reason that mesßEge has been stopped at New Orleans and canceled. Government censor advises can only accept messages in English language for this place. (Signed) Per Simmons.” “Government censor!" Sounds like the Balkansor World War days, when civilization was in the balance. . It would be interesting to know by what right and by whom a censorship is thus established. FAITH IN COURTS The attorneys of the State are somewhat disturbed over the fact that justice, somewhere and somehow, seems to have become a somewhat erratic lady who loses her way fr^fluently. They begin to fear that the people will lose their faith In her and her courts. Os course, they may be a little late in that 'fear Faith may have already disappeared. So they are advising changes in laws and methods and manners; the introduction of new rules and new technicalities. If they should a3k the first half dozen men what they consider the gravest defect of our system of Justice, they would discover that it is the interminable delay, especially in criminal cases. Things are started but nothing much happens, except in the cases of minor criminals or in some flagrant and dramatic crime, of brutality. Months ago, as an example, the Attorney General of thlß State charged that the head of the AntiSaloon League had put himself in contempt of the Supreme Court by criticising its decisions. The charge was made that he was attempting to coerce the courts Into an illegal way of thinking because of their fear of his power at elections. The charge was made long before the last election and since then has been held up in the court No one knows whether the dry leader Is in contempt or whether the Attorney General was making a political gesture. It may be remembered that two years ago indictments were returned against members of the State highway commission. They were charged with conspiracy to steal Government materials. The fact that they were indicted by a grand Jury was used as an excuse for preventing a legislative inquiry which might have produced some fact, in the open. Those cases haive never been tried. The men indicted say they want a trial And in the meantime, public interest lags and the political manipulations over a board that controls the expenditure of fifteen million dollars a year continues. The public ,if these men are guilty, ought to be' protected. If they are Innocent, they should not rest under a cloud for this long time. There are other cases—the charges of arson against the aids of D. C. Stephenson, as examples. Those have been pending for more than two years. If they tried to burn the houße of the former political czar of this State, now a convict, they should be with him. If they are not guilty they should not be compelled to carry the burden of inaction. If there is to be any faith in courts, that old guarantee of speedy trials should mean something. It should mean that the public also had a right to quick determination of any charges against those society accuses of violating its laws. Until the lawyers reform themselves and Judges exercise some control over delays, the people maybe excused if they yawn when any one is arrested on any charge of betraying the public or of violating any important laws. About the only persons who get speedy trials are those who violate petty laws and are unable to hire good lawyers. , A SMILE FOR TANARUS; J. If ghosts walk and the spirits of the dead take any interest in the affairs of the living, the ghost of Thomas Jefferson must have stood by and smiled when the attorney for the New York board of education argued the board's free speech case in court, Dec. 14. Assistant Corporation Counsel W. A. Mayer waß resisting Samuel Unterineyer’s application for a mandamus to compel the board to obey the la\£, which says that the schools shall be an open forum when not otherwise in use. The board’s counsel showed his idea of an “open forum” and free speech by stating that the board might reconsider its refusal if the Civil Liberties Union, which had tried to stage a free speech meeting, would recant its ad vocacy of the right of free speech, “no matter how radical or how much opposed to the accepted view,” and would submit a synopsis of all speakers’ talks In advance. The judge still has the case under consideration and presumably Jefferson’s ghost is still smiling. • Clothes break the man—women’s. With such a tremendous apple crop, some of the cider is just bound to get hard before the people can get to it. An elephant escaped from a circus in Kansas. Among the eager huntsmen who saw the animal the man who got closest was on a horse. One thing about the Nicaraguan revolutions, they do take life easily down there. We are waiting to see a picture of Mr Ford's new product and wondering if it will be another tintype. Todays question: What has become of the oldfashioned divorce? "What this country needs are day clubs for night workers. ( hicago crime expert says It would be cheaper to pension thugs. From the reports from some of our best Jails, it seems some sort of a plan has been in effect for several years. There’s a town in Indiana named Santa Claus, and a women’s card club in Liberty, Mo., that doesn’t gossip. ,

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Tracy Which Is Lesser of Two Evils —Dictatorship or * Censorship?

By M. E. Tracy. Borrowing an Idea from organized baseball, and bowing to Mayor Walker’s threat that he would “clean things up” if they didn’t, New York producers will appoint a play czar. The question arises as to whether dictatorship Is better than censorship. Somehow or other, and in spite of a world saved for democracy, we are turning to the boss rather than the public when it becomes necessary to straighten out a situation. The movies have Will Hays, Italy has Mussolini, baseball has Landis and Spain has Rivera. Are we going backward or forward? i—--51,000,000 Dog A New Bedford man is asking $1,000,000 for the loss of a dog. “I took Into consideration,” he said In court, “that a man’s dog stands by him In prosperity, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground when the wintry blasts blow- and the snow drives fiercely. If only he may be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to give him. He will lick the wSund that comes In an encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as If he were a prince. “A dog would not attempt to do the many things some lawyers do; even If he could talk, he would not stoop to hire others to do his perjuring for him. For these reasons and for the reason that my four children still cry for the dog, whose lifeless body was brought home after the defendant had struck him down, did I come to the conclusion that the market value of the little animal is a million dollars.” That is a beautiful sentiment, but it confuses friendship with business, and those who know best say the two won’t mix. It isn’t what dogs will do for us that fixes their values, but what we can buy them for in the open market.

Italians Do Things An Italian lleuten int has invented a pocket parachute by which he made a successful descent of 1.200 feet. Whether it is due to the leadership of Mussolini, or a quickened racial rbnsciousnes.e. the Italians are ' certainly doing some clever things these day.s Not only in science, hut in literature and other fields, they are reclaiming the proud prestige which their ancestors once held. They are running away with our speed records in aviation and producing our best histories. while their engineers are turning volcano and the Icy river into power. Os all the European powers. Italy has made the most startling progress since the war. Some ascribe to the discipline of a dictatorship, but more thoughtful students will suspect that the call to battle awakened her from sleep. Crime Surprises You think of the great open spaces in connection with straight upstanding men. You think of them as the setting for happy if isolated homes, where motherhood finds its best expression and husky children grow strong on homely love. Crime seems to be out of the question beneath the clear skies and wide ranges where the west is still west, especially that variety of crime which strangles babies and knocks a woman on the head with a hammer. That is what makes George Has sel’s venture in bloods so shocking. It is hard to explain how a man of his type could murder a wife and eight children with such callousness. You flee to Insanity for an excuse, but there is nothing to prove It except the deed. Much as we have discovered, or think we have about the criminal mind, we are still far from understanding whence it comes, or how It functions. Some of the worst tragedies in this world have been ccgnmitteed by men who led apparently’ normal lives until the last shatering moment, and under such circumstances which offered no possible excuse. Prohibition DifficultiesThe present year, more than any one preceding it, perhaps, has served to reveal the monumental task of enforcing nation-wide prohibition. Rootling syndicates have been discovered which approach the size of trusts. Tlie Pacific coast has furnished a $10,000,000 ram ring, and Boston one almost as big. It is authoritatively stated that there are 22,000 speakeasier in New York and 15,000 in Detroit, while the United States district attorney at Chicago estimates the vice graft in that city at not less than $30,000,000. “The influence of $30,000,000 of yearly graft money,” he says, “is a force to be reckoned with in politics. It finances campaigns. It will stop at nothing to prevent the prosecution and punishment of its beneficiaries or to discredit and destroy any honest public official, who refuses to touch the dirty money or to listen to Its seductive offers of political advancement.” What is the derivation of the name “Tucker?” It is an English name derived from the French “toquer," to strike or touch. It is a trade name from the west of England and refers to the wool trade, as do the names Fuller, Walker, Dyer, etc. Why hasn't the statue of Venus do Milo any arms? It was discovered in 1820 in a mutilated condition. It was carved probably in the first century B. C., and belongs to the Hellenistic period. Very few statues from antiquity have come down in perfect condition.

Princeton Triangle Club to Present ‘Samarkand’ at Murat Friday Night

When the Princeton Triangle Club presented “Samarkand” at the Trent Theater. Hugh McNair Kahler, wellknown author, saw it. "Samarkand” will be presented at the Murat on Friday night. Kahler writes of "Samarkand” as follows:

A pageant of glowing color against settings that give It gorgeous frame and background, a fantasy out of some Arabian night, interpreted in terms of light and movement and given, by Sanford’s amazingly opposite music, something like a fourth dimension, "Samarkand” unquestionably stands out above all the past triumphs of Dr. Stuart and the Triangle Club. Even its first night performance brought Illusion very near reality; without sacrifice of comedy, it contrived to attain charm. Here is something very close to true comic opera and very far removed from the farce-comedy with incidental mufle that commonly takes that name in vain, “Samarkand” will satisfy those who demand of the theater only to be amused; It will delight those who are less easily content; assuredly It will startle anyone who approaches it In that tolerantly condescending spirit usually reserved—and usually required—for the proper enjoyment of any amateur production. * Arter h book provides far more than the usual pretext for setting, costume, song and Jest and dance. The thread of story runs unbroken to the end, Justifying, for once in stage history, the particularly effective ensemble in which the first act ends. On its foundation Moss has designed two altogether admirable scenes and provided costumes of extraordinary beauty, with lighting effects that far surpass anything In past Triangle history. Sanford’s music orchestrated by Bob Crawford, brings the masque magically to life, deepens and intensifies its very color. Brenton, Sherry. Relchner, Baker, Bell and Kelhaam. as principals, with Gary and Bartlett as comedians. and Slagle. Leland, Halle and Trimble, as a quartet of clogging conspirators, and Kemble' as a singing djinn, compose a cast that meets the challenge of unusual material with a performance, several and collective, as much above the ordinary. And last, best of all, a chorus, p m chorus that can sing, and does, that dances, dances and never dances half enough. Its presence on the stage moreover is always so cleverly justified that the illusion gains in plausibility instead of losing, and this Is also true of the musical numbers, which seem to rise naturally out of the play instead of stopping it; there was little of the effect of interpolation about even the topical songs or the remarkable clogging specialties of Leland and h's fellow consp'rators, who almost persuaded me that all high class oonspirating is done on wooden heels instead of rubber ones.

Romantic Movie Due at the Circle

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John Gilbert has a love making role In “Bardleys the Magnificent,”

NEW SHOW AT PALACE TODAY With their Castlllian quartet of musicians acting as a background for their spectacular dances, Oakes and De Lour bring their SpanishAmerican revue to the Palace Theater the last half of this week. Oakes and De Lour staged the entire act and Miss Le Lour designed all the costumes. Most of the dance steps used are of the Spanish type and are staged with lavish settings. Hooper and Gatchett have a comedy sketch which they call “The Rookie.” This production is-based on the experience of a mifcflt rookie as witnessed by Clyde Hooper when ho was serving in the A. E. F. in France. A hard-boiled sergeant, a French barmaid, a soldier and a captain are the other characters in the production, which is elaborated with songs and dances. Walzer and Dyer are singers and eccentric dancers whose “Songs, Dances and Laughs’’ provide moments of popular harmony singing and comedy talk. Known as "Vaudeville's Young Singing Find, ’ Clark Morrell presents his wide -epertofy of songs as sisted by Royal Bernard at the piano. The Mann brothers are “Two Jolly Sailors on a Bounding Rope,” who offer feats of jumping and balancing

The Year End E.O.M. AYRES’ Following two great months of remarkable selling activity, this year-end sale brings one of the largest collections of oddments of the year. Scores of opportunities to save are yours! / REMNANTS Silks White Goods Wash Goods Woolens Linens Linings Trimmings Ribbons Laces Embroideries Carpeting Draperies

Eleanor Boardman and John Gilbert

opening at the Circle Sunday afternoon. In the large cast is Miss Eleanor Boardman.

with comedy. These two boys work on a rope suspended like a wire. “The Belle of Broadway” Is the film, with Betty Compson in a double role. Pathe News, a comedy and Topics of the Day are' the short reels. Other theaters today offer: Helen MacKellar at Keith's, Burns and Kane at the Lyric. “Stranded in Paris at the Apollo, “Twlnkletoes” at the Circle, “God Gave Me Twenty Cents” at the Ohio, “Butterflies in the Rain” at the Colonial, “Prowlers of the Night” at the Isis, burlesque at the Mutual and “The Sea Wolf’’ at the Uptown. What railway station has the largest number of persons passing through daily? South Station. Boston. Mass. Can. connection, be spelled connexion? Yes, that is the usuai spelling in England. Has It ever been possible for an alien to become a citizen of the I'nited States without- going through the process of naturalization. Naturalization has always been required. The first naturalization act was passed by Congress in 1791 and resulted in making a million American citizens.

DEC. 30, 1926

Work Queen and One Small Is Borderline 'Normal Support.

By Milton C. Work The pointer for today Is the wune as yesterday: Queen and one small Id borderline “normal support.” Yesterday's article gave six Illustrative hands, all held by North. In Nos. 1, 2 and 3, South has bid one Spade and West passed. 1. Sp.: Queen-x. Ht.: Ace-. Tack-x-x. -x. Di.: King-Queen-x. CL: Klng-10-x-x. * ' North should bid one No Trump. Doing so denies Spades, but with Queen-x that is optional and tt la evident that the hand will work better at No Trump. With such strength in three suits, a denial would be advisable with King and Spade, or even with Aco and one. 2. Sp.: Queen-x 1 . Ht.: x-x-x. DL: Ace-Jaek-9-x *. Cl.: x-x-x. A denial by a Diamond bid would be the correct declaration If the Spades were x-x; but it must be remembered that denial shows not only weakness in the suit denied, but also strength elsewhere In the hand. With hand No. 2. a player would not be anxious to make a bid as it would rather over-adver 1 tise his strength: and when such a' dubious bid would be required Queen-x may be considered normal support and the denial omitted. 3. Sp.: Queen-x. Ht.: x-x-x. Di.. Ace-Klng-Jack-x-x. CL: x-x-x. With this hand a denial should he made because the Diamonds are so strong that showing them is apt to be advantageous. In Nos. 4, 5 and 6, South has bid one Spade and West two Hearts. 4. Sp.: Queen-x. Ht.: 7-6-3-2. DL: Ace-King Queen. Cl.: Ace-x-x-x. The strength of this hand justifies an assist and North should look upon his Queen-x as normal support and bid two Spades. The absence of a Heart stopper precludes a No. Trump, and bidding the three-card Diamond suit should not be considered in spite of Its strength. 5. Sp.: Queen-x. Ht.: x-x. Di.: Ace-King-Queen-x-x-x. Cl.: Ace-xx., Three Diamonds would be better than two Spades; the Diamond strength is so great that It is important to show it. 6. Sp.: Queen-x. Ht.: Klng-Jack-x. x-x-x. Two No Trumps should be called, with partner bidding Spades and with two stoppers In the adverse Heart suit. No Trump is apt to be the most productive declaration. (Copyright John F. Dille Cos.) Work, (he international authority on Auction Bridge, will answer questions on the game for Times readers who write to him thraugh. The Times, inclosing a seif-addressed, stamped envelope.