Indianapolis Times, Volume 39, Number 72, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 August 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 Qf. 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, Editcir. President. Business Manager. PHONE —MAIN 3500 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1927. Member of United Press. Scrlpps-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

SCR I PPS -HOWARD

The Perfect Pardon Evidently the purpose of abolishing the old pardon board which decided upon paroles and clemency for prisoners was not to end an era of soft-heaitedness. Such was the first intimation when the prison trustees, who now decide on these matters, announced at their first meeting since they were entrusted with this task that there would be very few pardons and no clemency whatever. Especially emphatic in this matter was M. E. Foley, the Democratic member. Time brings changes. After a month there appears to be a gentler note to the meetings as evidenced by the release of T. Guy Perfect from the prison. This man was sent from Huntington. The crime for which he was sentenced from two to twenty-one years was an outrage upon a young girl. It was especially shocking because of the high standing of Perfect as a business man and in religious circles. The wealth of Perfect enabled him to have the ablest legal defense. And in the end a juiy said that he should be sent away for a very long time. Now he is out. It is true that his close friends less than a month ago said that they could not understand why it was that a man who had spent so many thousands of dollars to obtain his liberty should be still in prison. The old pardon board repeatedly refused to advise clemency. The members of that board, which the Governor asked be abolished, said that he should serve his full time as a warning to other men who, gaining wealth and power, believe that it gives them the license of ancient kings to ravage the daughters of others. But Perfect is now out. The prison trustees who intimated that the old pardon board was too kind to prisoners have turned him loose after a very few months. V Os course the trustees, who sympathized with his predicament, found others in the prison who merited relief. They turned out with him a bootlegger. Not a regular bootlegger, of course. This fellow, by coincidence, had been an employe of a State official before he took up bootlegging as a side line. The moral is, of course, to get respectability and wealth before you ravage young girls and hire out to a politician before you attempt to sell booze. Jim’s First Speech What should be the first speech of Senator James Eli Watson in his campaign to obtain the Republican nomination for President? The Republican voters of this great State know what they w r ould like to hear him or someone say, but whether Watson will put into words their hopes and aspirations remains to be seen. > Will he come back to Indiana and tell the Republicans that they will have a different leadership and a different attitude toward public affairs? Will he demand that the secrets of the Stephenson “black boxes” be published to the people, and the men who shamed and disgraced the State be driven from power and office? Will he demand that the Legislature gather to Investigate the truth of that very definite charge made by The Times that Ed Jackson, when secretary of State, went to Warren T. McCray with an offer of immunity and SIO,OOO for attorney fees in return for the naming of a prosecuting attorney in Marion County? Will he ask that Indiana be put right in the eyes of the Nation by a thorough house-cleaning of all those who trafficked with Stephenson and with those others who supplanted the orderly government with one of secret rule of hate? Will he make the State one of which to be proud instead of one for which apology must be made? Someone, some day, is going to make this speech. He is going to make it in sucli emphatic language that even the whirl of the political machine cannot stifle its sound. Some Republican will some day, perhaps soon, endeavor to make his party once more the party of Lincoln and of Roosevelt. Watson ought to make it, of course. He may have very good reasons for not wishing to do so. His chances of the White House, it may be stated, would be improved if he dared to make it and did so. But you can never tell about Jim. The chances are that this is one subject on which he will be very, very mum. “A Matter of Public Concern” Wall Street plunges and Washington ponders. Vital questions are raised by the Du Pont purchase of 114,000 United States Steel Corporation common shares. The E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Cos. is reputed to hold a dominant stock interest in the General Motors Corporation. By one transaction, therefore, three of the most powerful corporations in the land are apparently brought into a financial liaison whlcTu under certain conditions, could leave incalculable effect on industry. Du Pont dominates the chemical industry, United States steel dominates the steel industry, General Motors dominates the automobile industry. J. P. Morgan & Cos. are the reputed bankers for each corporation, and that makes due consideration even more worth while. Nor is the reputed community of interest entirely

The exposure of Stephensonism continues to draw editorial fire from newspaper men throughout the country. The most recent contribution on Indiana’s political mess comes from Henry "Ku-Klux J - AUen - former governor of Kansas - ’ ' and editor of the Wichita Beacon. In Klan discussing “Hooded Politics” in Indiana Politics Mr ' Allen says: The horrible story which comes from Indiana out of the “black boxes” of D. C. Stephenson, former grand dragon of that State, explains why the Ku-Klux Klan has withered and died. In the beginning many excellent men, attracted by certain tenets of the Klan faith, joined out of the belief that they were rendering a public service. In a short while the management of the order drifted to selfish men who used it either for political purposes, or the purpose of making profit from a gullible membership. A few used it for punishing personal enemies. Those who used the order for political purposes did immeasurably more damage to the public than did those who took their profits in cash. Nothing has ever been worse for any community than the brief period of political domination by the Klan. The

What Other Editors Think

financial. General Motors, making ready for stupendous Henry Ford, can use duco paint, manufactured by the Du Pont company, and steel manufactured by the United States Steel Corporation. It is not too much to say that an actual interlock-, ing ownership of these three gigantic corporations would constitute a concentration of wealthy and power j never before dreamed of. The Federal Trade Commission is right that this most dramatic financial development in years is a “matter of public concern.” Commissioner A. F. Myers merits praise for his motion for an investigation into its meaning and consequences, and the commission for authorizing such an investigation immediately. The President’s Decision “I do not choose to run for the presidency in 1928.” That terse statement by President Coolidgc may seem to many people to be confusing. That is because “choose” is a very flexible word. It may mean to prefer or to decide definitely. Many people, analyzing the President’s statement, will construe it to mean that he wants to be “drafted” by his party or coaxed to sacrifice his personal preferences and run again. We do not hold that view. As the word “choose” has various meanings, so it is used in varying ways j in different parts of the country. In the middle and far West “choose” is generally [ used as the equivalent of prefer. N But in New England when a pprson says he “chooses” to do or not to do something, he is invariably understood to mean that he has made a definite | and final decision. As we understand it, President Coolidge, in words that peculiarly reflect his New England background, has rejected the suggestion that he seek a third term. Subsequent events may indicate that the announcement was in the nature of a trial balloon, sent up to gauge extent and strength of the sentiment in favor of a third term for the President. There is, however, nothing on the face of the President’s statement to warrant such a conclusion. Because of the element of doubt occasioned by his i use of the somewhat ambiguous word “choose,” the President ‘will probably clarify his statement shortly. Until he docs, however, we take the President’s statement to mean that he has positively and finally rejected the idea of being a candidate for the third term, and commend him most heartily for what we regard as a sacrificing devotion to a vital principle of American government. With his renomination assured and his re-election at least a reasonable hope, it must have been difficult for the President to reject the chance of being President of the Republic longer than any other min. In his customarily terse manner, however, he made the great decision and in season to clear the way for calm reflection over his successor. Possibly never a man of great deeds, President Coolidge may yet find greatness for what he sacrificed. / Putting a Premium on Tax Dodging Reed Smoot, Senate finance committee chairman, expresses the hope that the coming Congress will repeal the Federal inheritance tax law. He contends that the Federal tax was an emergency measure which has outlived the emergency and that “as a permanent measure it trenches upon the sphere reserved to the States.” If Senator Smoot opposes any kind of inheritance taxes, State or Federal, his position is clear enough. Many wealthy people do think it is a cruel and vicious thing for the Government to step in and take a share of their property when they . die. If the Utah Senator is concerned about the Federal invasion of State’s rights in the field of taxation, his position is not so clear. At present the Federal inheritance tax law provides for a refund of as much as 80 per cent of the tax collected if the State levies a similar tax. In other words, the States can recover all but 20 per cent of the Federal tax if they want to enact a similar measure. There’s keen competition among the States, however, for the presence of aged millionaires. Some of them, like Florida, have no inheritance tax at all, and so gain no advantage from the Federal tax refund provision. Under such conditions the Federal inheritance tax serves as an equalizer. It benefits those States which have inheritance taxes and penalizes those which do not. If the Federal inheritance tax is abolished, it will result in unrestricted competition between the States for the preference of those who seek to avoid' tax interference with the transfer of their property at death. Under such circumstances it seems certain that those States having no inheritance tax will sooner or later reduce the others to the same situation. The result, of course, will be the elimination of any kind' of inheritance taxes. If that is the situation which Senator Smoot seeks he should say so frankly, and face squarely the arguments of those who think the inheritance tax combines about as many virtues as any at present in vogue.

Klansmen who went into politics were the least desirable, the least honest, the least dependable of all the membership. They made their way to political power over the ruin of their enemies. They slandered, brow-beat, and sometimes, as in Indiana, they resorted even to physical violence. There are only a few left in office now. hanging on to the edges of their political power, waiting for time to bring about the conclusion of their tenures. i Indiana has a large pan of very thick political stew. There have been strange, mysterious, not to say possibly corrupt, political doings in the State for some time. Good Indiana citizens are Some either humiliated, indignant or puzzled, vr , And yet these good Citizens, too busy i\eve) to vote and too indifferent the rest of Learil the time, bring their bad government down on their own heads. And Indiana is not worse than other states. Democracy’s biggest problem is to devise some way to get better folks to run for office. Now and then a thoroughly good man does run—and he gets so much hard criticism that he (gets out in a hurry. -

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. TRACY SAYS: If the President Means What He Says, Nicholas Murray Butler Is Right in Declaring It, “A Wise and Patriotic Thing.”

Bit United Prcun TERRE HAUTE, Ind., Aug. 3. President Coolidge’s terse statement that he will not be a candidate in 1928 admits of three constructions. 1. It can be accepted as sincere and final. 2. It can be be suspected as another press agent’s stunt designated to create public clamor in his behalf. 3. It can be regarded as a slopover of petulance. Tradition Is Saved If the President means what he says, Nicholas Murray Butler is right in declaring it "a wise and patriotic thing.” He undoubtedly has it within his power to be renominated, and probably re-elected for a third term. If he saw and apprecated the danger of this, he was a bigger man than the lickspittles who have been trying to persuade him to run on the ground that the third term issue was of no importance. Either through dumbness, lack of leadership, or such an appetite to retain control of public affairs as knows neither reason nor restraint, the Republican party was ready to sacrifice the third term tradition. If Calvin Coolidge has saved it from this folly, he has done something worth while. Overcome With Joy Vice President Dawes, Speaker Longworth and ex-Governor Lowden are too surprised for comment. It requires no stretch of the imagination to suspect that an excess of pleasure has something to do with their silence. Each of them would like to be the Republican presidential candidate, but had no chance as long as Coolidge remained in the field. Now the door is wide open, and, as Hiram Johnson put it, “The race is free for all.” Every One Surprised President Coolidge ha? not only given his own crowd something to think about, but the Democratic party as well. Even the voluble Senator Reed, of Missouri, has nothing to say. Indeed, most everyone is too surprised for words, because most everyone had taken it for granted that President Coolidge would be a candidate to succeed himself, and all the campaigning, whether by Republicans or Democrats, had been tuned up to fit that idea. Confused as the political situation may have seemed before, it is nowchaotic. Economy Plans Fail >lt is no reflection on the •President’s motives to suggest that, disappointment and failure may have helped him to reach the decision he has. The economy program which he constantly preached, and by which he appeared to set so much in store, is gradually being undermined. Breakdown of the Geneva conference threatens to demand millions for a Navy, while farm relief and flood control arc bound to call for more millions. Davis Gardens Prosper Speaking of farm relief, there is a farm in Terre Haute which does not appear to need any. It is called the Davis Gardens, and consists of twenty-nine acres under glass. It is the largest establishment of its kind, not only in this country, but in the world. More than that, jt is a vivid example of what science can do for agriculture. Steam is not only used to supply heat, but to sterilize the ground. Insects are gassed when they get too numerous. Cucumbers grow on trellises ten or twelve feet high. Mushrooms are raised in two cellars, each of which is 300 feet long, and from soil which is made to order each season. Chemical Farming It takes 17,000 tons of coal to run the Davis Gardens annually and the operation force ranges from seventy-five to 200 persons. The boiler room looks like that of a great electric plant. Each of the nineteen hothouses is from 80 to 105 feet wide and from 600 to 700 feet long. Since the rain is kept out by the glass, an overhead irrigation system supplies water. Bug-killing sprays, such as grandpa used to put on with a squirt gun, are mixed and distributed by machinery. The soil is watched, tested and cleansed with the same painstaking care that mother keeps baby’s bottle. The head farmer studies chemistry, instead of watching the clouds.

$43,560 an Acre The Davis Gardens as they have been perfected and improved are worth about one dollar per square foot or $43,560 an acre, and it is said they pay good interest on the money. The average yield of tomatoes, cucumbers, ferns and chrysanthemums is about twenty-five times what it Would be on a well-culti-vated outdoor farm. Since two crops are raised a year, the yield is actually fifty for one. All this has been made possible by intense study, experiment and c&reful work. Just as an illustration of the incidentals required to operate such a farm, eighty colonies of bees are maintained to fertilize the plants.

Another Act Going Wrong

WHAT; a "WMp _ || *

Breaking Into a Strange Breakfast Party Where They Served Nails, Iron, Chains and a Quarter by Walter and. hickman •

Beans for breakfast, beans for lunch and beans for supper. That refrain is well known but have you ever attended a breakfast of such a menu as this: First, a long piece of iron. Second, a chain made up of many choice links. Third, a quarter when nicely chewed by the teeth becomes very bent. Fourth, and a bag of grain, weighing 250 pounds, when carried on the back makes one eager for more pieces of iron and chains. Am telling you that is the menu Young Abraham, a youth of nineteen years, served at a “breakfast” he gave on the Lyric stage yesterday morning. Henry Burton called me by telephone and told me that Young

* In Hard Role

/jjL’\ ir 3- 'M nti \ 1 * \ - mm J % mm

McKay Morris In “Rain,” McKay Morris has the difficult role of the Rev. Davidson who thinks way to a suicide grave. Morris at Keith’s this week is giving a powerful characterization of a man who pfens up his true emotions.

Times Readers Voice Views

Dear Editor: You are rendering the people of Indiana a great service in your exposure of Stephensonism.” Your columnist, Mr. Tracy, referring to

Questions and Answers

You can get an answer to any question of fact or information by writing to The Indianapolis Times Washington Bureau, 1322 New York Ave.. Wash- ' ington, D. 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 be answered. All letters are confidential. — Editor. '■ Do fish sleep? They rest and remain quiet in nooks and streams but do not sleep in the sense that mammals do. Is there any law or ruling that prohibits a radio owner erecting an antenna over and above buildings or other property not owned by him and not occupied by him as tenant? There most assuredly is: The owner of lands controls the space above his property to infinity and that underground to the earth’s center, and anyone who wishes to string wires above the property must obtain the owner’s permission or be prosecuted for trespass. Where can I obtain information about the teachers’ tenure bill? Apply to the State superintendent of public instruction, Indianapolis, Ind., for an answer to this question Is there a school in Indianapolis that teaches costume designing? The art school of the John Herron Art Institute offers a course in costume designing.

Abraham wanted to Invite some of the doubting Thomases on the newspapers to see him do his stuff. Knowing that I can not digest iron, chains, nails and the like, I compromised by eating at a restaurant), scrambled eggs, toast and jelly. I like some things strong, but not iron for breakfast. When I arrived at the Lyric for the strange breakfast party, Burton, and one of the Rigoletto Brothers in whose act Young Abraham appears, were already there. I found Young Abraham, his stage name,as he was born in Europe, a most interesting sort of a fellow. He was dressed to convince because he had on a tiger skin and short trunks. Abraham, practically stripped, began his demonstration of his strength. Never have I seen such well developed muscle and always in perfect command. I was by his side all the time he was giving his strange breakfast party to newspaper people. He has a corking good sense of humor and eyes that see a lot of fun. I know that his muscle is not a fake and I was as close to him as- - to this typewriter when he took a long heavy piece of Iron, placed it in his mouth and bent it with case Was interested the most when he took a long chain and broke off about eight links with his hand*. Then he broke two links from the remaining chain. It is nearly impossible for anyone to break two links of a chain. He worked for several minutes and finally the two links broke into. Abraham knows that this is very near an impossibility but after three and a half years of practice, this youth has mastered the impossible. He showed me photographs taken in Germany when the strength of his jaws and teeth were tested to the point where his jaw strength registered 560 pounds. This test is done by an expert with special apparatus. I noticed that Abraham’s teeth are not large but nearly perfectly formed. His hands are not large and his feet are not large. Abraham told me that he is just nineteen years of age and that his mother’s father is now 114 years old and is still living in Russia. “He has married four times,” Abrahani told me. It seems that long age runs in this youth's family. This chap is a contradiction of the theory that brain and muscle doesn’t mix. He

the Jackson-McCray affair says, “It is time that the people of Indiana awake and do some thinking.” They are awake, and are doing some real hard, “for sure” thinking. God pity poor old Indiana if they are not! However, they are thinking, and what they are thinking would be enough to put the hair on end, straight up on ttie most conscienceless, unscrupulous and unprincipled of men. The Rosinante explanations may satisfy a bunch of ninnies, but never to the least degree, the fair-minded, intelligent and honest people of this great commonwealth. Faced with such a serious charge and its portentious consequences, any innocent man could not delay one moment in clearing his name. Every newspaper in Indiana owes its constituency an honest deal. They must be as fair with the public as its best friends. Their first obligation is due to State, the public. Men and parties should be secondary considerations. Your attitude in this matter is making thousands of friendfc—good and appreciative friends every day. You are on the right side of this great issue. Stand by your guns. You are sure of an ultimate victory and a grateful constituency. R. B„ Danville.

Do You Know That 131 old people are receiving care and comfort in their declining years through the agencies operated by the Community Fund, the Alpha Home for Aged Colored Folks, the Jewish Shelter House, - the Home for Aged Women and the Altenheim Old Folks Home?

has mastered the English in less than a year. I saw in his dressing room that he had many scientific books and treatises relative to strength, muscle and body power. He knows what It is all about and he talks as intelligently as he works. I was close enough to him to know that he is on the square in his demonstration. He has the strength to do what he says he can do and he does it on square. Young Abraham this week is doing his strong man stuff at the Lyric this week. This sure was a strange breakfast party that I attended. Good food for those that like it, Abraham admits. * Other theaters today offer: “Rain,” at Keith's: “Pigs," at English’s: Young Abraham and the Rigoletto Brothers at the Lyric; “Monte Cristo.” at the Ohio: "Time to Love,” ,at the Indiana; “On Ze Boulevard.” at the Apollo; “Loucsome Ladies.” at the Circle and movies at the Isis.

Your Investmentßanker

s MUCH CARE should be devoted to the selection of your investment banker as there is to securities that you buy. Selection of securities to be offered to investors presents many problems, and an investment house must have a highly trained and unusually well informed personnel to be able to offer investors maximum protection. Fletcher American has spared no expense in building up the most complete investment service in Indiana and has been rewarded by the ever-increasing confidence of the investing public.

Meidlier .American. Coimpant/'

DETROIT

with THE FLETCHER AMERICAN NATIONAL BANK

AUG. 3, 1927 "

Why the Weather?

THE ROARING FORTIES

The name “Roaring Forties" was applied by* sailors to the oceanic area of the southern hemisphere between latitudes 40 and 50 long before landsmen facetiously applied it to the focus of night life in New York City. In both hemispheres westerly winds prevail from about latitude 30, the poleward limit of the trade winds, to the borders of the polar \ regions. In the northern hemisphere the “prevailing westerlies” are much interrupted by moving cyclones and anti-cyclones. In the southern, the winds blow more steadily from a westerly quadrant, and as there are few land features to Impede their progress they attain great strength. The winds of the “Roaring Forties” are described as the “Brave West winds.” Sailing ships, by their aid, are able to compete witli steamers in trade between England and New Zealand, via the Cape of Good Hope, the return journey being made around Cape Horn. At one time these westerlies of the southern oceans were generally regarded as a permanent stream of air, as steady as the trades. It Is now known, however, that many cyclonic disturbances travel eastward in that region. As In th< southern hemisphere the winds i>. a cyclone have a “clockwise” tion around the center, the winds oflj the northern borders of these storm™ are westerly. The centers usually lie south of the forty-third parallel in winter and south of the fortysixth parallel in summer. By keeping well to the northward of the storm centers In “running her easting down,” as sailors say. a vessel gets the benefit not only of the general drift of the atmosphere from west to east, but also of the strong west winds of the cyclonic circulation. All rights reserved bv Science Service. Inc.

Brain Teasers

There's variety in today's quiz. Answers on page 14: 1. what is the English equivalent for the Italian name Guglielmo? 2. Who was “Mad Anthony Wayne? 3. From whom docs the month of August take its name? 4. What President’s cabinet was called "The Kitchen Cabinet?” 5. What vegetable was once called “the love apple?” 7. What is the comon name for members of the Society of Friends? 8. What sign, or symbol, hangs in front of pawnbrokers’ establishments? 9. What was the nickname for General Thomas Jonathan Jackson? 10. Who Is the chief of the Boy Scouts in America? 11. What patrolman has police badge No. 1? How Is the circumference of a dr obtained? By multiplying the diameter by Pi (3.1416).

INDIAN APOUS

By Chari** t Fitzhugh ' Tnlman Authority *b Meteorology

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