Indianapolis Times, Volume 39, Number 100, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 September 1927 — Page 4

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SOUPPJ-HOWAAD

Even More Suspicious The silence of former Governor McCray jn his return to this city concerning the incident which happened in his office on Dec. 3, 1923, is quite understandable. The actions of Governor Jackson since the return of McCray are not so easily explained. v That McCray, after his own experience and during his period of readjustment to scenes of former triumph should hesitate to volunteer any statement on that event can be understood. But whatever else was charged against him, he was never accused of faltering in his friendships or hesitating to the defense of his associates. The Times has repeated, again and again, its story of what happened in the office of the Governor on Dec. 8, 1923. At that time McCray was under indictment. His son-in-law, with a proper regard for the inconsistency of his own position, was about to resign the prosecutorship of this county. On that morning, in the office of secretary of State sat Ed Jackson, who is now Governor, George V. Coffin, who was the political czar of the Klan by edict of Stephenson and acquiescence of Bossert, and one other. Arrangements were made for the production of SIO,OOO on that very day. And then this conference sent the boyhood friend of McCray to tempt the Governor with this offer of aid and the farther pledge that no jury would convict him, if he would name the selection of Coffin as the successor to Evans. The men there gathered had an unusual apreciation of the value of this office politically and otherwise. So did Stephenson, the former dragon, who later learned just how valuable it could have been. And when the boyhood friend of McCray failed, Ed Jackson left the conference and repeated this offer. It was to that offer that McCray made a reply that should be historic and may become so. He told Jackson “I have lost my money. I will lose my office. I may lose my liberty but I go to a prison cell with my self-re-specft” Other newspapers than The Times, very many newspapers, in fact, not only in this State, but in other states, have declared that if what The Times printed was true, then Ed Jackson should not finish his term of office as Governor of this State. They, as has The Times, have pointed out that the statute of limitations may run in Criminal courts but has never yet run in greater court of public opinion. If Governor Jackson has such pacifist ideals that he does not resent the charge and relies on silence, he certainly could have no objection to pointing all inquirers to Govcrvor McCray and ask that in the name of former friendships, in the name of the State which elected both to its highest office, that he open his lips and publicly state the facts. No one believes chat McCray would refuse such an invitation from the man who now holds the office which was once his own. Why doesn’t the Governor ask vindication on this matter, which all citizens with the possible exception of the Governor himself regard as very serious, by such a course. Silence will soon become something very much more serious than suspicious. It’s Own Comment The hasty appointment of Claude Johnson to the position of city controller following his even more hasty removal as chief of police is its own comment on the condition of the city government. A board of safety resigned because they said Johnson was so good a police chief that his removal was an outrage. Unquestionably that is a fine recommendation for the position in the city service that has charge of the finances of the city. Under his scrutiny, several millions of dollars are collected each year and gpent by the city. We have perhaps reached the stage where the people need the very best trained policeman to stand guard over their funds. There can be, of course, no other logical reason for this change. A Great Reporter Dies If departed souls could communicate with the living, there Is now in that bourne whence no traveler returns one from whom we would like to hear, one irom whom all the world might hear with benefit. And could his communication come as a newspaper dispatch, it would be headed—"By W. H. Porterfield.” And the story would relate, we believe, just about all that most of us would like to know concerning tha land that lies beyond. Wot W. H. Porterfield was a great reporter. He wpa, of course, more—thoughtful, helpful friend of countless persons, a wri’r of kindly philosophy that

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) Owned and Dubliahed dally (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times PubllshinC Cos., 314-220 W. Maryland Street. Indianapolis. Ind. Price In Marlon 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—MAIfa 3800. SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 8, 1927. Member ol United Press, Bcrlpps-Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enferprlaa Association. Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau ol Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”— Dante.

reached thousands of hearts, part publisher and owner of a newspaper completely devoted to the interests of his community—the §an Diego Sun, sister paper of The Indianapolis Times. But, primarily, he was a reporter. Blessed with limitless curiosity, everything interested him; he was fascinated by life. And he loved to tell of the wonders he observed, whether the wonders of every-day life in San Diego or the wonders of the world at large. For him to see, seemed to be to understand, and nothing unkind ever came from his busy typewriter. What this gentle, sympathetic observer is to find in this last of his many travels we are not to know. But he has left something of the philosophy with which he embarked for us to read. In a column of his paper there appeared a few days ago, the following: “Tomorrow, the doctor says, I must go on the table and, as is true in all such cases, I may come out on this side with a temporary pain in my tummy, or on the other side with no pain at all. “And in either event it is perfectly all- right, because one must trust these things to the judgment of those who know a little. . . . "Life is to most of us, I think, a rather unsatisfying experience. We never accomplish even the smallest part of what we plan to do. Our lives soon become an unimportant round of unimportant details. . . . While all the time, in the background of our brains, huddles a half-formed prayer that somehow we might be vouchsafed the time and ability to do something really worth while. “Life is unfinished always, an unfinished symphony ... the incomplete part of the pattern which we may call infinity; the completion of which no man can know or even dare to dream. “ ‘I count life Just a stuff to try the soul’s strength on,’ wrote Browning, and I think he knew much more of life, here and beyond, than those who think they know so much, for Browning knew he did not know and that’s all you and I can ever know, no matter how many decades our bodies may move about this earth.” Thus he felt as he faced his last great assignment. There are thousands of his friends—which includes all his readers—who will regret that the opportunity was not given them to tell him that his "half-formed prayer” had been answered every day of his life, that there never was a day in which failed to do something worth while. Not Important The resignation of two numbers of the civil service commission because the mayor hurriedly changed his police chiefs, comes under conditions which rob it of any elements of dramatic protest. That the mayor has never taken civil service seriously when it Interfered with the plans of the politicaian who happened to be his adviser for tne moment has been continuously demonstrate^ The spirit of civil service which is presumed to Insure recognition of merit and lift public 'servants ind employes from the dangers and pitfalls of partisan politics has always been missing. The police department, not only under Duvall, but under other mayors, has always been regarded as the property of the political machine and legitimately used for political purposes. When Worley was unceremoniously ousted from the head of the detective force only three weeks ago, the commission did not notice his passing as a violation of the spirit or letter of the laws of civil srevice. Back of that was the indefensible use of all the members of the police force who could be so cajoled and of the fire department and other city employes as solicitors for the short-lived publishing enterprise of the mayor. If there was ever a time for protest, it was when this unusual use of public employes who were under the protection of the board was made. There is no one so guileless as to doubt that the shifts in the police department and the change, of the safety board were dictated by political and not police considerations. The public may speculate as to what motives caused the mayor to discharge Worley from a minor position and then iftake hi mchief of all the police three weeks later. No one would suggest that the three weeks which elapsed so changed conditions as to protection of life and property and the enforcement af laws as to require the hasty summons from the Elba to which Worley had been sent. He was put back, ,of course, because the political outlook demanded the change and for no other reason. Aside from emphasizing the need of a committee 3f citizens who have no political schemes to promote and who are intent only on the best interests of Indianapolis to act as guardians for an administration whose acts are at least bizarre, the resignation of the civil service board is too late to be important )r effective. A New York justice rules a mail may be inoffensively drunk. Probably that’s when he’s good and drunk. \

Law and Justice B; Dexter M. Keezer

A young man agreed to marry a young woman, and then withdrew from his agreement. The young woman to whom he had been engaged sued him and a friend of his for damages, contending that they had been in a conspiracy to break the contract to marry. Convinced that there had been such a conspiracy, a jury awarded damages of $15,000 to the young woman. Th* young man and his friend appealed the case, contending that there is nothing illegal about a conspiracy to break a marriage contract. They argued that friends have a right to counsel a person concerning his matrimonial intentions, and to try to persuade him not to marry a particular person. Attorneys for the young woman contended that it was such counseling that had induced breach of the marriage contract, that this breach had damaged the young woman and that the young man and his friend should be held for damages on account of their conspiracy. HOW WOULD YOU DECIDE THIS CASE? The actual decision: The Supreme Court of Wisconsin held that the young woman was not entitled to damages. It said that engaged persons have a right to ask for advice, and added that “to hold that a third party may be subject to answer in damages for advising or inducing an engaged person to break the engagement might result in b y every disappointed lover against his successfulrlva!." 1 "" - H

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Why the ggf* Weather? Meteorology"

WEATHER BUREAU “KIOSKS” Small pavilions containing meteorological instruments and charts, including the current day’s weather map, may be seen on frequented streets or public squares in several American cities. The first of the "kiosks,” as they are called, was erected by the Weather Bureau in 1908 and there are now about thir-ty-five of them in the U nited States. More or less similar pavilions have been erected extensively in European cities, where many of them serve primarily for advertising purposes. i The instruments in the Weather book kiosk, which are all in working order, include a self-registering rain-gauge, the receiver of which is at the top of the kiosk, a common thermometer, a combined maximum and minimum thermometer, a thermograph, a hair hygrometer, and often an aneroid barometer. The kiosk is a popular institution and is instructive as an exhibit of meteorological instruments and placards, but its Instrumental records are not of much scientific value. The structure consists almost entirely of massive iron castings, which vigorously absorb and conduct the heat of the sun. Tnis construction, coupled with inadequate ventilation, often causes the thermometers and thermograph to read much too high in summer. The proximity of buildings or trees often impairs the value of the rainfall record.

A Favorite j

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Tom Waring.

Tom Waring, soloist with Waring's Pennsylvania, has made an individual hit at the Circle this week. The orchestra opens the second week of its engagement at the Circle Sunday.

School Opens

The Irvingtou School of Music announces the opening of the ninth season, Tuesday, Sept. 6. Joining the faculty of thirty instructors, will be the Misses Charlotte Rifner and Marie Kiser in the piano department, Miss Carol Coapstick in the voice department, these teachers having completed the normal courses at the school of music. The -.chool of music has secured in addir’on to the regular dancing classes, tne services of Walter Pattridge, dancing instructor, who will teach at the school this fall. Mr. Pattridge is well known in this city and specializes in ballet, toe, acrobatic, Spanish, and fad dances. He will conduct a high school etiquette dancing class besides a ladies' gym class and evening ballroom classes for adults. The opening date of his classes will be announced later. The school of music has added to their staff of workers, Mrs. Ethel H. Warner, registrar and general secretary for the main office in Irvington with tyiss Bessa Lee Reavis as her Miss Flora Saue** will be tne manager of the north-side and west-side brandies. Miss Mildred Casey will be in charge of the normal courses in piano besides the regular theory, harmony, sightreading* and history of music classes. The latter classes will begin Tuesday, Sept. 13. The north branch of the Irvington School of Music will open Tuesday under management of Flora M. Sauer, who also is in charge of the west branch of the school. Courses in music, dramatic art and dancing are offered by the school. The north branch is located at Thirty-Eight St. and College Ave.

Brain Teasers

1. What story in the Bible does this picture represent? 2. How did Joshua break down the walls of Jericho? 3. What was the sin and punishment of Lot’s wife? 4. How were the fleeing Israelitees fed in the desert? 5. How was Elijah carried up to heaven? • "" 0 6. What famous Hebrew was cast into a den of lions and escaped unharmed? 7. What king of Babylon went mad and ate grass? 8. What was Armageddon? Answers to today’s Bible quiz are printed on Page 14.

The First and Second A. E. F. — No. 3

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Germany Is Found to Maintain a Very High Grand Opera Standard Under Present Form of Government

BY HERBERT M. JOHNSON BERLIN, Sept. 3—Germany ’is “stepping out” in many directions. In my last letter I referred to the general spirit of contentment, the industry apparent in every direction, the progress in aeronautics, and the progress and prosperity of the opera and theater. The reason for all this is something which seems paradoxical in the light of recent history—Germany is prosperous! Fine crops and busy factories enable Germany to carry on a great export trade. Much of it is with soviet Russia, where high prices and prompt payment are secured. Almost every conceivable type of merchandise is involved in this business. The export trade to South America also is very large. Pursuing our survey of opera houses for ideas susceptible of in-, corporation in the detail of Chicago’s new lyric home we made a thorough inspection of the Hamburg Opera House. Although the structure is more than a century old, it is up to the very minute from a technical standpoint, for the stage was rebuilt last year. In this a big job was well done, some five million marks, about $1,200,000 being expended upon the rehabilitation of the historic pile. Lavish devotion of time as well as money characterized this work and it was only possible to open the house during the last four months of the season. A double stage has been provided, doing away with long waits between acts and permitting of the devotion of greater and more elaborate detail in setting scenes. This is accomplished through setting the second act while the first is being sung, and the third while the second act is in progress. It is made possible through divid-

(Anderson Herald) Warren T. McCray, whose finacial manipulations caused persons to lose money and which resulted in a Federal prison sentence and loss of t*ie governship of Indiana, today is a free man. EeThe Story fore he went to Atlanta he was tempt- ‘ .ed with an alleged offer by Ed Jack0/ TWO "o/l-jon, now governor of the state, of a ticians SIO,OOO bribe and immunity from conviction provided McCray made a certain political appointment. McCray is said to have replied to the offer: “I have lost my money, I will lose my office, I may lose my liberty, but I’ll keep my self-respect.” He went to prison, served three and one-half years, "and became eligible to parole. He served his prison days like a man; he did not flinch from that. He did not succumb to the temptation, offered on the eve of his trial, to escape prison. He made himself useful in the prison life at Atlanta. None will begrudge him the parole that has been extended. For he did not seek to hold himself above the law. The man who made the alleged bribe offer is now governor. The story of this unworthy offer has been printed repeatedly, and it has met nothing but silence. There is no court of law before which Governor Jackson can be called to atone for this alleged bribe. But there is a court of public opinion that is more important than any suit that might be instituted against him. Indiana has had a conrast in political personages in her last two elected governors. Os the two there is no doubt among the rank and file of voters as to which has offended most against public welfare. The one who has offended least has paid a prison price. There is a political lesson in what has gone into the record of the governorship of Indiana in the past six years. How many will grasp its meaning, or help work out a solution? 1 How many have definitely pledged their hearts and minds to see that their bit is contributed to remedying the situation? (The Keyitone Presi—lndianapolis) The New York and Chicago newspapers, to say nothing of the hundreds of others served by the Associated Press and other news gathering agencies, are devoting vast space to defamatory Uhdesir- articles about Indianapolis and Indiana. Frequently as much as four able columns in the Chicago and New York Publicity papers are devoted to minute details of our political incompetence and the virulent poison of the Ku Klux Klan as injected into the body politic by D. C. Stephenson and his horde of henchmen. One of the great papers carried this scare head across the top of an entire page, “INDIANA THE 8008 STATE,” and another carried a list of 'the great men the state has produced in the pa.i,

tng the stage Into six sections, each of which rests upon an elaborate hydraulic system. A section, or a group of sections may be raised, lowered or given changed position instantly. As usual in German opera houses the stage is comparatively of more generous proportions than the auditorium. The seating capacity of the latter is only about 2,000 as contrasted with something more than 3,600 in the major American opera houses. We were given the thrill of realizing how small the world really is by finding the musical director, PoliakAfavorably remembered |n Chicago through having conducted the German repertoire there throughout two years. Many opera enthusiasts regard the opera in Hamburg as the best in Germany. I am not in a position to express a personal opinion, but I can foresee that Hamburg’s technical and mechanical advantages soon will be discounted by the State opera In Berlin, now undergoing reconstruction. Some ten millions of marks already have been expended upon rehabilitating to Berlin State Opera House and a fUUrth as much more will be required to complete the work, making the total cost of alterations about $3,000,000. Anew house doubtless could have been built here for the same amount, but sentiment forbade the destruction of the old Royal Opera with its wealth of tradition. So the venerable squat pile at the foot of Unter den Linden with its front of pillars, like an ancient Greek temple, will continue to frown upon the cluster of historic structures and monuments about the Puppen Brucke, of which it is a unit, while after the new year its

Whai Other Editors Think

interior will spell the last word in German theatres. Casual observance, coupled with a study of the plans and models, discloses that this will be especially true of the stage. Nothing that will make for physical perfection has been overlooked. Giovanni Martino, metropolitan basso, has been engaged for the touring company of “The King’s Henchmen,” the Taylor-Milley opera which had its successful premiere at the Metropolitan last season and which will go on a transcontintental tour this year under the direction of Jacques Samossoud. The cast of principals as it now stands list Frances Peralta, Marie Sundelius, Rafaelo Diaz and Giovanni Martino, all of whom are at present and will continue to be members of the Metropolitan Opera since they will return to New York for their special performances with that company; Henri Scott, formerly of the Metropolitan; Richard Hale, who—music lovers will remember—created a sensation in Gluck’s “Orpheus,” Judson House, Dudley Marwick, Alfredo Valenti and Constance Hajda. In spite of the foreign names, all of these singers, with the exception of Mr. Martino, were born and raised either in England or America, with English as their native language. Mr. Martino, however, has sung at the Metropolitan for ten years and has been an American citizen during as much of that period as the laws of naturalization permit 3d. In addition to these principals, the company presenting this American opera will include a chorus of fifty and an orchestra of fifty. This opera has been tentatively booked for Indianapolis.

and compared them to the puny weaklings in the saddle now—John Hay, Daniel W. Voorhees, Joseph E. McDonald, Thomas A. Hendricks, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas E. Marshall, Oliver P. Morton, Samuel M. Ralston, David Turpie, John W. Kern and scores of others. And who can deny the pitiful, disgraceful facts? The people of Indiana are the same loyal. Godfearing, honest people they have always been, but fallen into the hands of unworthy leaders. A lax sense of civic obligation has developed into a total incapacity for efficient self-government. Three glances, one at the State House, one at the Court House and one at the City Hall, are enough to sicken the most patriotic heart. But a great light is breaking. Our people are aroused and the great state and city again will come into their birthright. Fear not. (Clinton Clintonian) The release of former Governor Warren T. /McCray from the Federal prison at Atlanta meets with the approval of most people. Few ever considered McCray a crook, even at the height McCray of the excitement when his frenzied ~ financial efforts became known. He w start became deeply involved when the slump Again in farmland values occurred and in his frantic endeavor to avoid a crash to *tiis .personal fortune, he transgressed the law of the land. His being permitted to take his place again as an individual in society carries with it no menace to the established order of things. His intimates profess to know what line of work he expects to follow when he is again a member of society. Only they know, but the general public is not fearful that Warren T. McCray will encroach oh the rights of any individual or do anything to violate either his parole of the faith that his friends have in him. Coincident with the news of his release, stories were publisheed of attempts to bribe McCray which were unsuccessful, although he knew that the refusal meant prosecution and probable imprisonment. Such reports coming at this time tend to convince the public that the fall of a man of such principles was not due to a lack of sense of honor, but to the desperate effort of a drowning man to catch at any straw. (Newcastle Courier) Warren T. McCray, former Governor of Indiana, under sentence of ten years in the Federal penitentiary at Atlanta, has been paroled and the action will meet with approval. There is a feeling that McCray has been sufficiently punished. Three years in prison is a long time for a man of McCray’s age. Wonder why Ed Jackson named his horse The Senatof instead of Dobbin. Must have been so he cqitld charge a fancy price. Stephenson evidently Haid $l5O for horse and $2,350 for name.

SEPT. 3, 1927

M. E. TRACY SAYS: What a Wonderful Comp-troller-General We Have. Taxpayers of This Country Can Rest Easy as Long as He Is on the Job, Unless They Are Embassy Clerks Who Work Overtime.

Bn United Prete PORTSMOUTH, N. H., Sept. 3. A clerk in our Chilean embassy worked overtime. The reason why does not appear. He may have been one of those few and peculiar souls who can find no other way to get rid of their surplus energy. The chances are, however, that ha was asked to do so. Putting tha question aside, the fact remains that he worked overtime. What is also a part of the story, he lived in a suburb of Santiago, which could not be reached without passing through a slum district, and which had no street car service after midnight. Under the circumstances, Ambassador Collier not only advised him to take a cab when he left the embassy as late as two or three in the I morning, but charged it to the Government on his expense account. --- • You Can't Fool McCarl The Mississippi River commission is doing all it can to repair broken levies in order to prevent a flood during the next winer’s rise. Its funds, however, are nearly exhausted. The War Department had planned to help the commission out by borrowing $2,000,000 from the $50,000,000 rivers and harbors appropriation; which could easily be replaced nexl> year But again Comptroller General McCarl stej> in to remark that it is not allowable. What a wonderful comptroller general we have. The taxpayers of this country can certainly rest easy as long as he is on the job, unless they are embassy clerks, who have to work overtime, or persons who live near the Mississippi. No Proof Against Mexico President Calles puts the government in a rather lame position when he declares that it has ‘never presented to the government of Mexico evidence of concrete acts of aggression against foreign capital invested in the petroleum industry whose rebellion and defiance of the laws are such as no independent country can admit.” After quarrelling with Mexico for several years over her oil laws, and after having insinuated in a dozen different ways that they threatened American investments with confiscation, it is hard to be told that we haven’t furnished proof of one aggressive act. It is harder still to concede the fact, to be forced to acknowledge that we have been fussing about what might be, not what has been. Stinson Deserves Thanks Again we abandon hope for transoceanic fliers, and again a woman seems to have gone to her death for no better purpose than an ambition to be the “first passenger.” One can understand how a pilot at the stick, or even a navigator, might venture to cross the sea on wings because, if successful, he can look back on something which he himself accomplished. This “first passenger” business, however, is at best a hollow triumph. Asa matter of common sense, it is no triumph at all, but a veritable nuisance, since it contributes nothing but useless weight. Eddie Stinson deserves the thanks of a half-hysterical generation for his announced refusal to build planes for those who would attempt to fly overseas alone. Asa pilot with more than 12,000 hours in the air to his credit, he can speak wtih the authority of experience, and as a manufacturer who is building high grade aircraft, he can visualize aviation from its commercial and constructive side. “Aviation has made phenomenal strides,” he says, “and ultimately is ( destined to attain a solid place in civilization. But that day may be seriously retarded by unnecessary quixotic flights into the comparatively unknown. All of the gain in public confidence resulting from Lindbergh’s and other successful trans-Atlantic flights is likely to be lost by repeated failure of similar attempts. Air Interest Morbid Our interest in aviation is growing dangerously morbid. We are contracting a frame of mind toward it much like that with which we view the “dip of death,” the high dive or a bull fight. If we keep on we shall suddenly suffer from a revulsion of sentiment, become horrified at the price of our thrills and demand a retreat which would spoil much of the progress that has been made. We are dealing with one of the greatest achievements of humanity, yet with an attitude which promises to shrivel it to the level of a circus stunt. Two Or three hundred daredevil aviators are knocking us off our mental feet with their capers, and we are mistaking their performances as more important than the plodding, purposeful work of thousands.

Do You Know — That twenty aged colored men and women live at Alpha Home? From small savings they have paid the entrance fee, their share ot the price of .escaping the poor farm. The Community Fund bears the rest of the price.