Indianapolis Times, Volume 39, Number 33, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 June 1927 — Page 4

PAGE 4

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos.. 214-220 W. Maryland Street, Indianapolis, Ind. Price in Marion County, 2 cents—lo cents a week: elsewhere, 3 cents—l 2 cents a week. BOYD GURLEY. ROY W. HOWARD. W. A. MAYBORN, Editor. President. Business Manager. PHONE—MAIN 3500 SATURDAY. JUNE 18, 1927. Member of United Press. Scrtpps-Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association. Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way” —Dante

SCRIPPS- HOWARD

|j Come Tonight If V°u have not made up your mind as to the (desirability of the city manager plan of government, \ go to the Cadle Tabernacle. The argument for the plan will be presented by Meredith Nicholson and J. W. Esterline. One of these speakers is a Democrat. The other |s a Republican. Both of them are in favor of the system of government which will take partisan politics out of city government. Just because they are in favor oL this change, they are better Democrats and better Republicans than the politicians who want to keep party politics in city affairs. Their political convictions are based on principles in which they believe. They believe that political parties are designed to aid government, not to get something for selfish men from goverenment which all do not share. No one has yet advanced a single reason why any city government should be Republican or Democratic or Socialist—unless they admit that they want to use / the people's money to build up machines to control the State or the Nation. Many citizens of Indianapolis have come to the belief that this adds a rather heavy burden and destroys efficiency. They believes that party politics should be banished from city affairs and that instead of being controlled by job hunters and privilege, seekers or privilege sellers, it should be conducted on business principles. city manager system has been tried. Just B.orks and what it has accomplished in other Hi be presented at the great public gathering If there are any flaws in the argument, you will be able to detect them. The election next week is most important. You will wish to vote intelligently. If you have not made up your mind, perhaps these speakers may convince you. Or they may, perhaps, confirm your suspfion’ that it is dangerous. You have nothing to lose and perhaps much to gain by going to that meeting tonight. How Colonel Mitchell Might Help Col. Billy Mitchell, once of the Army Air Corps, but now an “ex” owing to his habit of lampooning the higher-ups, is at it again. He sinks the Navy for not having Lindy’s plane ready for his hop-off to New York and charges it with all sorts of skullduggeries because it was believed motor parts had rusted while crossing the Atlantic on the Memphis. The whole thing was a tempest in a teapot, it -appears, Lindbergh himself exonerating the Navy from all blame. Nor had rust anything to do with the motor’s failure. It was a cracked cam follower which the Wright corporation engineer, who supervised the work of the motor, did not have time to discover before Lindy was due to start. Colonel Mitchell is not only frequently unjust in his criticisms, but inconsistent as well. For while he ( accuses the Navy with trying to horn in on Lindbergh's flight for propaganda and boosting purposes, he intimates the same Navy is doing all it can to discredit the art of flying. One of these may be true, but not both. You don’t try v to show how good a thing is if you want to kill it. The Army, Postoffice Department and all the rest of the Government, it seems to us, did more undignified shoving to get in on Lindy’s limelight than the Navy. Who sent the Army uniform, by destroyer, down the Potomac for the hero to wear at the Washington ceremonies? (Which uniform, incidentally, he did not put on.) The colonel can be of vast help to aviation and the country if he only will. There are always bureaucrats and swivel chair warmers in the Navy, the Army and the Government generally. These do not want their dozing disturbed by the alarm clock of progress and he has already shown that he is a thoroughly competent “Big Ben.” The trouble is you can’t tell when he’ll buzz off. A shade less quick on the trigger, a shade less jarring in tone and a> shade more timeliness, or justice, in his alarums and the doughty colonel would be power. Without these attributes he may do more harm than good. Just as nothing benefits the national defense more than intense, but good natured rivalry between its various branches, nothing weakens it like inside feuds. The New Dollar Diplomacy Our ambassador to Mexico, James Rockwell Sheffield, we learn unofficially, is about to resign. Back home to report, it is said that he will not rejoin his post. We trust this is true. Personally Mr. Sheffield ranks as a most honorable and estimable gentleman, deservedly popular with the foreign colony in Mexico City. But as our diplomatic representative in what to us is one of the*, most important capitals in the world, he was a failure. The reason is not that he was lacking in ability. He has plenty. But by temperament and outlook he was not equal to the peculiar and particular mission of creating the necessary background of confidence in Mexican officialdom and good will among the people to succeed. t Ambassador Sheffield’s weakness is a weakness increasingly common in American diplomacy since Secretary Kellogg appeared on the scene as head of the State Department. A Nation is just a lot of people. It has a heart just like folks, with entirely human, likes and dislikes, fears and suspicions. And in no corner of the world are nations more thoroughly human, or more responsive to all the human equations, than in LatinAmerica. This is a fact which our diplomacy has utterly failed to take into consideration. The State Department simply evolves a policy and carries it out in Mexico, Nicaragua or elsewhere south of the Rio Grande, regardless of whether it fits the desires or the temperament of the people concerned. Generally speaking, our diplomats seem to feel that we are powerful enough to do what we like, so V. -I

we do. We are too prone to ride rough shod over the susceptibilities of others Admittedly, some nations to get along with, just as some people are harder to get along with. Mexico, also admittedly, is often one of these nations. But to be honest, we have not always tried very hard to get along with Mexico or to understand her. And we must understand her and sympathize with her, if we are to get along. We must not forget that Mexico has reason to be a bit suspicious of her great neighbor to the north. Your atlas or your history will show you why. A ’'quarter of what we now call the United States, no longer than eighty years ago showed on maps as part of Mexico. Today Mexico is cynical and not a little afraid. She is not quite sure of our motives. Diplomatically, therefore, our cue is first to deserve then to win, the confidence of Mexico, and to do that will take patience, plus a constant show of genuine sympathy for her aspirations. It is nonsense to say. as many do. that there are some people who can understand only force. The truth is rather, that all some people have ever known is force, which makes them vexatiously—but pardonably—suspicious and often difficult to deal with. But if we are ever to get anywhere with Mexico, or the Latin-American republics generally, we are going to have to re\7lmp our diplomacy in that part of the world. We are going to have to send men down there who like the people, sympathize with their legitimate aims, and who have the tact and suavity to make friends for themselves and for the American Nation. We can, of courSte, force our small South American neighbors to do this or that, but in the end such a policy would be folly. The alternative is systematically to set about earning and holding their good will. It will take time, but that is the only diplomacy that will pay. It Happened To Socrates, Too What will tend “to corrupt the morals of our youth” is a matter of opinion. In Boston last week it was the opinion of the Watch and Ward Society and a police captain that the sale of a book entitled “Oil,” by Upton Sinclair, would “corrupt the morals of our youth,” and so a clerk named Gritz was arrested and fined SIOO. In Athens several centuries ago a man named Socrates was arrested and forced to commit suicide by drinking hemlock. The charge was the same. He was accused of doing or saying things which tended to “corrupt the morals of our youth.” The phrase seems to have been long used to bring under a social and legal ban anything which certain timid people do not like to think about, or hear talked about. We have not read “Oil"; but we have read enough of Sinclair's books to know just about what “Oil” would be. It would be rather wordy from a literary point of view. It would be rather tedious for the person who is familiar with the Kellogg policy in Mexico or any other chapter of current oil history. It would be rather hard reading for anybody who wants to read detective stories or confessions of a wife or reminiscences of a flapper. But as for “corrupting, etc.,” it might as well be /said that Roosevelt’s essay on the strenuous life had such a tendency. Upton Sinclair is now linked with Socrates. Congratulations Upton! There was an item in the papers the other day about a man named John Pershing being on his way home from Europe. Doubtless the ship news reporters will find out who he is. . . . That's not to mention the terrible setback Lindbergh gave the Chaplin divorce trial, either. . . . The few American cities that haven’t chambers of commerce to welcome Lindbergh certainly are in a hard way. The Prince pi Wales saw “Abie’s Irish Rose,” says a dispatch. At last he has made the newspaperes without falling off his horse. A Boston robber who shaved and dressed up to loot a residence must have wanted to make a clean getaway. Field Marshal Earl Haig of Great Britain says England would have won the war without the United States. What war do you suppose he means? Man is fighting the insects for domination, according to a magazine writer. Ford is making a larger car now, however. The Nebraska funeral directors say this is a good year to die in, caskets for as low as SSO being available. Sounds reasonable. Now is the time when you find the sap in the water. Many a drive in the park ends with a park in the drive.

Law and Justice ' by Dexter M. Keezec

The owner of an automobile asked a friend to drive it to a garage a short distance from his home. The friend decided to go for a ride before taking the car to the garage. During this ride he ran into another automobile and wrecked it. The owner of the wrecked automobile sued the owner of the automobile which had crashed into his car for damages. He claimed that the friend was acting as the owner’s agent in returning the car to the garage. The owner contended that he had only authorized his friend to return the car to the garage a short distance away, and couldn’t be held liable when the friend disobeyed these instructions and hit another car while riding around the city. HOW WOULD YOU DECIDE THIS CASE? The decision: The Supreme Court of Arizona decided that the owner of the automobile could not be held for the damage inflicted while it was being driven about the city by his friend. It said the friend was his agent only to the extent of taking the car back to the garage, and when the friend went for a ride around town this agency ceased.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. TRACY SAYS: There Was Never a Time When So Many Grandfathers Took an Active Part in Business.

If this is an age of flaming youth, it is also one of virile, ambitious old people. Chauncey M. Depew goes to his bank, John D. Rockefeller plays golf, Elbert H. Gary runs the biggest corporation in the world and Thomas A. Edison still wants to invent something. There was never a time in human history when so many grandfathers took an active part in business, or so many grandmothers could keep pace with the younger generation. The varied interests of life explain it. It is no longer necessary to sit in the chimney corner and reminisce. Although we complain that art and poetry are dead, there never was a time when the imagination played such an important role, or the future appealed more strongly to those who have learned how to think. Edison Could Rest Thomas Edison is old enough and has done enough to rest on his laurels. Instead of this, he continues to work. It is now rubber that intrigues his fancy. He believes, it possible to produce a rubber plant that can be sown and harvested like oats. He is devoting nine acres of his Florida estate to the experiment and has fitted up anew laboratory at his New Jersey plant. Rubber’s Importance Rubber has become a vital factor of industrial activities. It is one of those products which our new methods of transportation call for in ever-increasing quantity. In our excitement over the marvellous feats that are being performed by machinery we are apt to forget the raw materials on which it feeds. We must not only provide an adequate supply of rubber, but an adequate supply of fuel, if the airplane and automobile are going to play the part in future development that we expect of them. Without oil. or a good substitute, all the recent triumphs of aviation would be vain. Other governments are thinking logically and resolutely about the problem of providing themselves with the necessary raw materials to keep modern machinery moving. Fifty years ago England had no rubber. Today she grows enough of it to dominate the markets of the world. Her plantation owners were encouraged to import and plant it through government aid while other nations slept Materials Count Control of vast oil, coal and iron fields has become one of the most important issues of world politics. The uproar in China would not be considered half as serious if it were not for the mineral resources of eastern Mongolia and Manchuria. Statesmen and scientists realize that the destiny of empires has come to depend not on the ability to invent and manufacture machines. but on the ownership and control of those raw materials that are necessary in their operation. Where We’ll Finish Men tell us that we ought to provide a great air fleet for national defense, but to what end if we do not save enough oil to run it? We are leading the race when it comes to the invention and improvement of mechanical devices, but we are showing remarkable indifference when it comes to safeguarding our supplies of raw material. If we keep on as we are going, we shall wind up with the greatest air fleet in the world and no gasoline, with the greatest flock of automobiles and no rubber, with the greatest collection of printing presses and no pulpwood. Specialization We cannot expect to supply everything we need. In this complex age. nations- are bound to specialize just as people have specialized. It goes without saying that modern industry will force nations into the same type of life that it has forced individuals, that some will monopolize one product and some another. There are certain great essentials, however, that no nation can afford to be without, just as there are certain great essentials that no family can afford to be without. Those materials which a nation needs to defend and sustain itself in case of attack should be safeguarded at all hazards, yet one seldom hears this feature of the problem discussed. / Behind the Battle When we think of national defense. we generally think of guns, explosives, airplanes and submarines; of the battle front, rather than what is behind it. The last war proved nothing so vividly as that the supplies behind the battle line and the ability to bring them forward determined the issue. Chilean nitrates, Canadian spruce and American cotton, not to mention many other commodities, played a very important part in the allied victory, and they will play an even more important part in the next conflict. War, like everything else, has become an affair of organized industry and in the last analysis organized industry must look to the farm, the forest, the oil pool and the mineral deposit.

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To the Editor: Asa reader of your paper for a number of years I, have quite generally agreed with your ediotrial views. However, I cannot understand why you advocate adoption of the city manager plan. Any change in our system of government. whether it be nation or municipal, should be approached with circumspection, and the greatest of caution. Before deciding on such a radical change as the substitution of an entirely new system, it should clearly appear that the present system is an entire failure. If it has only failed in part or if if possesses weak points that invite graft and corruption, then it should be amended to cure that

Brain Teasers

Today s questions offer you anothet chance to test your knowledge of the Bible. Answers to all the questions will be found on page 18: 1. What incident in Old Testament history is pictured in the illustration below?

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2. In what year does the Bible say the flood waters receded? 3. Who was the father of Shem, Ham and Japeth? 4. What two disciples prepared the last supper? 5. What seed was manna? 6. What did the manna cakes taste like? 7. How many years did the Lord add to King Hezekiah’s life after his prayers? 8. What Kings of Judah succeeded Hezekiah? 9. Who was the father of the prophet Isaiah? 10. What punishment did the high priest Ananias mete out to Paul?

The City Manager Plan Committee Says: *

What the City Manager Form of Government has Accomplished. It now is in operation in 364 cities and tow T ns in every part of the United States. This proves the plan long ago passed the experimental stage. Only four cities ever voted to return to the old system after once adopting the City Manager plan. Statistics compiled from thirtysix representative City Manager cities in widely separated parts of the country showed that since its adoption taxes had, been reduced, that there had been great extensions in public improvements such as streets, sew'ers, etc., and that there had been marked economy in cost of operation of municipal affairs. In Wichita, Kan., a typical City Manager city, the tax rate is more than 35 per cent below the average tax rate of 215 cities of the United States. Figures show that the Wichita city tax rate has fallen, while the county and State rate almost has doubled.. Exhaustive research shows increased efficiency in police and fire-

Vacation Daze

Times Readers' Edi torials

evil in much the same manner that we amend our Constitution from time to time tto meet the changing conditions of the times. No perfect government has as yet been devised. However, the Federal system that we now have is generally conceded to be nearer the point of perfection than any the world has ever known.

Is the present inefficiency in our city affairs the fault of the system under which we operate, or is it k due to the malfeasance, as charged, of those in office? Unquestionably it cannot be the fault of the system, for Indianapolis has had efficient city administrations. Under its present charter it has grown from a small country village to one of the Nation's foremost cities. The system cannot have failed over night. It must, therefore, be the fault of the human agency and not the political clement. If our socalled “good citizens” would vote on election day, instead of remaining away from the polls and leaving the selection of public officials to the organized politicians, the present unpleasant situation would never have arisen. In tha apathj of the voters lies the re il fault. In tlieir enlightenenient lies the remedy, not in the substitution of something else for the ballot. Contrary to the general opinion there is no organized effort being made to defeat the city manager plan. The “politicians” are not aroused or excited, for they know only too well that the opportunities for graft and corruption will be greater under a city manager, serving under Indiana’s loosely framed law. The people of Indianapolis do not know with what success or failure the city manager plan has met with in cities where it has been tried. They have only the biased, onesided stories of the propagandists. The prosperity of Dayton. Cincinnati and other cities might just as readily be attributed to a hundred and one other causes as the fact that they have a city manager. They are prosperous, not because they have a city manager but in spite of that fact. ‘ Good government, efficient administrations are not gifts of the gods. They are not the reflection of the systems under which they arc administered. They come only with good, honest and capable public officials. Call them mayors or city managers, it makes no difference. The theory of American government is that the selection of public officials should be vested directly in the people, to whom the officials are responsible. Under the city manager plan the people have no voice in either their selection or their dismissal. So long as the city manager serves the personal and private interests of the commissioners he holds his job. It is unlikely that you will print this in your paper for it presents the other side of a question that thus far, has been discussed in your

man departments in City Manager a far greater degree of satisfaction and better morale in the departments. This improvement has been brought about, according to members of police and fire departments, by freedom of the men from political influence in performance of their duties, freedom from political assessments, and a feeling of security in holding their jobs on the sole basis of ability. That the plan has been successful is proved by its rapid growth in

IMPORTANT '' „ V 1 ou do nfit have to register to vote June 21. You must cast your vote in person. You cannot vote by absent voter ballot.

paper only from one point of view'. That the city manager plan has some good points. I will not deny. EvcTy proposition has two sides. I cannot help but feel that the adoption of the city manager plan would be a step toward the autocracy that Americans fought so hard to overcome one hundred and fifty years ago. It is ill-timed, coming as it does at a time designed to play upon the popular imagination. It is a mockery to American ideas of democracy—an insult to the sacred memory of the real government experts. the m< n who designed our present charter under which wc have grown and prospered. Respectfully yours. JOSEPH H. WICKKR, 1404 Fletcher Trust Bldg. Editor The Times: There is nothing slow about the down State (Illinois) farmer. He could not get President Coolidge to sign his relief bill. For the rest of us it was fortunate the President was raised on a farm, worked in cities, and actually knew both sides. * If the farmer can't get what he wants from Congress he is going to try state Legislatures. In Illinois he has 32-51 of representation, although polling less than half the State vote. Violation of the State constitution does- not bother him. He certainly rubs it in when he gets the chance, or tries to. First. State income tax from which he is practically exempt via allowable deduction, taxes on dwelling, heating and lighting expense for same and personal property tax including his family car. The city man pays income tax upon his total income without any deductions, not even transportation allowance if he is a salesman on the road, or if he is a mechanic there is no allowance for material bought locally and not carried from headquarters. Second, gasoline tax. The farmer exempts what he uses without stalling. and restricts the use of tax money to neighborhood roads that go nowhere and connect nothing except his neighbors. The city man gets soaked. Even the poor workman has this extra cost of delivery from wholesaler to retailer added to his grocery bill. The farmer is riding to a fall. The Brennan-Smith vote for United States Senator showed that the farmers’ ways are not liked generally. Taxation without representation started this country’s first war with a Boston Tea Party. But cannot blame the farmer for not knowing United States history. Most histories studied in rural schools emphasize fashions and neglect government record and achievement. C. SOUTHARD HURLBERT, 26 N. Bishop St., Chicago. Who is ambassador from Switzerland to the United States? The head of the Swiss diplomatic mission to this country, Marc Peter, has only the rank of minister.

popularity. In 1908 one city used the plan. Ten years later 111 cities were using it. Today it is in use in 364 cities. , Public confidence in the plan has shown a willingness on the part of voters to approve bor.d issues for public improvements in cities where before the plan was made operative bond issues almost invariably were defeated. This confidence in honest administration has resulted in far reaching improvements in a physical City Manager cities arc able to plan far in the future for their improvements, certain that a wise policy will not be revoked by a change in political complexion of the administration. This has been one of the greatest advantages of the City Manager form of government, according to unbiased investigators. Cleveland. 0.. in three years under the City Manager plan, solved municipal problems which had proved barriers to the city's progress for more than a generation under the old system.

JUNE 18, 1927

AUCTION BRIDGE by MILTON C. WORK Give Preference lo SixCard Minor in Ansivcrng Informatoy Double.

The pointer for today is: With a weak four-card. Major, when answering partner’s informatory double, give, preference to a stronger six-card minor but not to a four-card or five-card minor. Yesterday’s Hands South one No Trump, West double, North pass: what should East declare holding:

NO. 13 NO. 15 4 5-4-2 4 5 * 9-6-J-2 9-6-3-J 4 A-Q-10-9 4 A-Q-10-9-34 A 7-6 .A '• NO. 14 NO. 16 + * 5 + A-Q-10-9-J * A-Q-10-9-J4

My answer slip reads: No. 13. East should bid two Hearts. No. 14. East should bid two Hearts. No. 15. East should bid two Diamonds. No. 16. East should bid two Hearts. My reasons in support of thesey declarations are: ™ No. 13. A case of choice between two four-card suits, one a Major and the other a Minor. Although in this instance the Minor is much stronger, the choice should be given to the Major. No. 14. A trying problem. The Minor is no' only longer but materially stronger. However, experience has shown that even with such odds in the Minor’s favor, the fourcard Major will generally produce more satisfactory results. No. 15. With, six ot the strong Minor and only four of the weak Major. the chances favor the Minor rather than the Major; and with so great a preponderance of both length and strength, it should be given the preference. No. 16. With five cards in the Major and six in the Minor, the choice should be in favor of the Major even with the Minor strong ancl the Major weak. The high cards of the Minor will help the Major declaration; the low cards of the Major would not be so helpful for the Minor. and the Major needs one trick less for game. Today's Hands South one Club. West double. North pass; what should East declare, holding:

,\ NO. 17 NO. 19 4 so-2 4 A-5-2 y 9-6-3 f A-fi-3 * 8-7-I-2 $ J-10-4-J NO 18 NO. 20 4 A-5-2 4 A-5-2 ? 9-6-3 V A-6-3-1 4 8-5-4 4 8-5 4 S-7-4-2 4 J-10-1-J

Bridge Answer Slip of June 17 No. 17. East should No. IS. East should No. ID. East should No. 20. East should

Questions and Answers

You can £t’t an answrr to any question of fart or information by writine to The Imliauapolig Times Waghilijtnn Bureau. 1U23 Nrw York An'.. Washinffton. D. C. inclosirs '2 rents t|< stamps for reply. MetlTeal. loyal ami marital advice cannot lie Kivcu nor can extended research lie undertaken. All other questions will receive a. personal reply. Unsltrned requests cannot he answered. All letters are confidential. —Editor. Which are the greatest empires of ancient and modern limes? Persian Empire under Darius I about 500 B. C.; the Empire of Alexander the Great about 232 B. Roman Empire under Trajan A. D.® 98-117. The present British Empire is the greatest that has ever existed either in ancient, mediaeval or mod - ern times. The British Empire covers about one-fourth of the total land area of the earth. What is the average longer ity of persons in the linited States? Expectation of hfe in the United States for males is 55.33; for females, 57.52. On wlial day of the week did June 27. 1854, fall? Tuesday. What do the terms “departmental service,” apportioned service,” and “classified service," as used in the United States Civil Service signify? “Departmental service" is comprised within departments and bureaus of the Federal Government in Washington. The term “apportioned service’’ refers to that part of the Civil Service Act, which requires certification for appointment in the departments or independent offices in Washington so as to maintain the apportionment of appointments among the several States, territories and the District of Columbia upon basis of population. “Classified service” includes all officers and employes in the executive civil service of the United States, except persons employed merely as laborers.

Easy to Read WEST LEB ANON. Ind . .Tune new type is very best of printing to read. The people arc enjoying it also. Yours truly, PAUL REYNOLDS.