Indianapolis Times, Volume 39, Number 125, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 October 1927 — Page 4

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SCRIPPS-HOWARD

An Extra Session I The State owes to Indianapolis and Evansville an extra session of the Legislature even if its own fair name and reputation and best interests were not demanding one. > For the State Legislature, with the approval of the Governor, robbed Indianapolis of its •right to rule itself as one of the final acts. It than that. The Legislature set aside file contract of the city of Indianapolis with John L. Duvall and forced him upon this city for two years against the wishes of the people. . When Duvall was elected mayor, if he was elected, the laws provided that the people might at any time change to the City Manager form of government. That was one of the conditions of his bargain with the people. He took the office, made his numerous bargains for jobs, grabbed his numerous contributions, knowing that the people had this right. The people understood this, too. They must have had away back in their minds the idea that they had this avenue of escape. There could be no other explanation for the election of Duvall. When the people got ready to use this weapon of defense, the State political machine, the heir to all the days of Stephensonism, the creation of combined fanaticism and bigotry, forced the Legislature to repeal the law which gave this right to the people. That is the only reason that Duvall is now mayor of this city. Had not the people been robbed of their rights (and The Times, it may be remembered, raised "the only warning of this foul conspiracy) there would be no need of civic clubs demanding resignations or wabbly couneilmen threatening impeachments. The Governor had his part in this robbery of Indianapolis. He signed the measure for the bosses. Coffin, wjjo is now under joint indictment with the Governor, was the man who cracked the whip. Conditions have changed greatly since the close of the Legislature. Today it would be. impossible to pass such a measure. The grip of fear has been broken. The machine is discredited and fearful. It is probable that very many members of the Legislature who timidly yielded to the orders of the bosses would today defy them if given a chance. That Legislature did one other thing for which it undoubtedly repents and which it should have the chance to rectify. When Representative George Saunders of Bluffton, an editor, asked for an investigation of State affairs and especially the activities of Stephenson and the Klan, suppression became a party policy of the Republican members. Many of the Republican members privately protested. The party whip was cracked. They obeyed. If there was need of a legislative investigation then, there is a greater need now. The Governor of this State is under indictment. He will be tried in the courts and the courts will pass upon his guilt. He is charged with one specific offense. The Legislature feel somewhat chagrined as they go among the people and listeh to the coarse jibes concerning the $2,500 horse which the Governor said he sold to Stephenson, and said it only after The Times had produced the check drawn in his favor by Stephenson. / The people know that Stephenson insists that this check was but one-fourth of ten thousand dollars which the former grand dragon says he gave to Jackson personally to finance himself as the primary candidate. The “black boxes” are in the hands of the grand jury, thanks to the activity of The Times. What they contain is secret. There are offenses that are greater than crimes. The people understand that. They know that not all the offenses against them are covered by criminal laws. They no longer accept the theory that a man can stay in office as long as he keeps out of jail. The attorney general has before the highest court a contempt case which also should interest the State Legislature. The people have before them a letter of United States Senator James E. Watson, in which he incautiously admits that he wrote letters throughout the State that he toped would keep the head of the Anti-Saloon League out of Jail. The Watson letter declares that the other Senator, Arthur Robinson, urged him to act. Here is a matter of such importance and of such possibilities that the Legislature can easily recognize that it may have a function to perform. The people of Indianapolis have a right to that session to right the wrong perpetrated against them when they were robbed of their rights to change their form of government and th4r escape from Duvall. Ths people of the State have a right to a

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRIPPS-HOYVARD NEWSPAPER) Owned and published dally (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos.. 314-220 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. MONDAY. OCT. 3, 1927. Member ol United Press. Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association Newspaper Iniormation Service and Audit Bureau ol Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”— Dante.

decent name at home and abroad which can only come from a thorough, honest and complete im-estigation of the evil days of supergovernment, of the rule of hate, of the capture of Indiana through deception, bigotry and corruption. Is there not one member who will call to his felloAv members to assemble if the Governor, whose present position makes such action improbable, should refuse to do the right and decent thing? Can We Cut Taxes? The political situation is just about perfect for tax reduction. With an election in the offing the present administration, which has talkekd much about economy, will be anxious to cut taxes. And the Democrats aren't likley to have the courage to resist such a move. Consequently, if there's any very strenuous agitation for tax reduction, there’ll probably be tax reduction. That puts it up to the rank and file of the people to decide whether they will be serving the country well by getting behind the drive for tax reduction at this time* And in making such a decision it's going to be necessary to discard a lot of misleading information calculated to show how fabulously prosperous the United States Treasury is. Last year, for example, the general impression is that the United States Treasury collected from taxes about $635,000,000 more than was required to run the government. It did nothing of the kind. It’s extremely doubtful if it collected qpough from ordinary sources of revenue to finance the regular activities of the government. Most of that huge surplus came from the collection of back war taxes and from repayment of war financing advances which had been made by the Treasury to the railroads and the War Finance Corporation. The surplus was a temporary windfall that won’t be duplicated again soon. This year it’s extremely doubtful that the government will have a surplus of as much'as $300,000,000. Most of the surplus, like the one last year, will be caused by tax collections and repayments of government war-time advances. In a year or two such revenues as these will be wiped out entirely. Last year, the most prosperous one in the history of the country, and more prosperous than this one i has been so far, the government had no surplus except that caused by back bill collecting. 'This year the government won’t meet its operating costs from regular revenue sources. There will be a surplus, but it won’t be a surplus that will mean anything in the long run. It is proposed to cut the corporation income tax from 13ta to 10 per cent. Last year that tax brought the government $1,308,000,000. Assuming that the corporations of the country do as well this year as they did last that means a cut of about $327,000,000 in corporation tax receipts. Unless the country grows at a fantastic rate such a tax cut will bring the regular Federal revenues far below the regular cost of running the government. Is that the kind of a situation we want the Federal government to be placed in? Before-we write our Congressmen let’s think it over. “So far as I know, not a single member of the American Legion need be ashamed when he gets home to tell everything that happened to him in Paris,” said the Paris commissioner of police. He’s a nice fellow. The great increase of candy-eating indicates fathers and mothers are becoming more indulgent, says a writer. Maybe indulging in a bite themselves now and then, too. A man died in Europe after drinking sixty glasses of water on a wager. The strange part of it is that he was able to find that much water in Europe, let alone drink it. A boarder in Kansas stole his landlord’s wife and his Ford car. The husband failed to pursue. Waiting to see what the new models will be like, perhaps. A Missouri man admits he has been arguing for thirty-five years and never scored a victory. He shouldn’t start controversies with his wife. The old-fashioned husband who used to have to wait while his wife was dressing now has to hustle to catch up. European nations are trying to fix the blame for starting the war and they haven’t even found out who won it yet. Washington experts predict flying hotels as the next thing. Jumpers of board bills are ordering parachutes for their trunks.

Law and Justice By Dexter M. Keezer

A man and his wife, unable to live together pleasantly, made a separation agreement providing for an equal division of their property. Six years later they were reconciled * and again lived together for nine years, but managed their property separately, in accordance with their agreement. They found again that they could not get along together and the wife, in suing for divorce, asked for an equal division of the property. The husband, whose property had increased in value much more rapidly than that of his wife, opposed such a division on the ground that fifteen years before they had made a property division and an agreement to manage their property The wife admitted this agreement, but claimed it had been wiped out, after their separation, they had again come to live together for nine years. HOW WOULD YOU DECIDE THIS CASE? The actual decision: The Supreme Court <of the State of Washington decided that the wife was entitled to anew division of the property, on the ground that the first agreement had been eliminated when, after a separation, they came to live together again as man and wife.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. TRACY SAYS: The Habitual Criminal Law Makes Us Think We Are Netting Fish When We Are Only Netting Minnows.

The theft of 20 cents, which he was not allowed to keep, sends a New York man to prison for life, and possession of a pint of gin, which he was not allowed to drink, does the same for a Michigan man. Both were victims of the habbitual criminal law—petty triflers with too little imagination to do anything very bad and too dumb not to get caught. \ Your real thief is not going to bother with two dimes and your real bootlegger is not going to risk his life for a pint of gin. What is more to the point, your rgal criminal is not apt to be caught and convicted four times. Problem Not* Solved It is all right, perhaps, to put the triflers away, but let us have no delusions about the effect on genuine, up-to-the-minute law breakers. The judge who sent that Michigan man away for life because he was found with a pint of gin may think that it will put an end to bootlegging, but Mr. Lowman has a better understanding of the situation when he starts 400 dry agents for Detroit. Neither will New York find herself much freer of thugs and yeggs because a pilferer of two dimes is robbed of alHhope. Netting Only Minnows Meanwhile, we find it constantly harder to catci i the big offenders. much less to Convict them. It takes a lifetime to run down a Kirby, a Cook or an S. E. J. Cox. Morse stands forth as a notable exception because he was' apprehended twice, though only convicted once. As for Fall, Doheny and Sinclair, not one of them has been convictd, though guilty of fraud according to the Supreme Court. The habitual criminal law makes us think that we are netting fish when we are only getting minnows. Start Employes Young Refusal on the part of certain corporations to consider applicants for work above 40 does not necessarily imply an intent to shelve old men. ( What they are trying to do, as I understand it, is to start employes young enough so that they can derive substantial benefit from training and experience. It is probably wrong to lay down any hard and fast rule, as years seldom tell a man’s true age, but institutions like railroads, street car companies and steamship lines, which have to depend to a measurable extent on personal responsibility, training and experience, are probably right in insisting that their employes start young enough to become of the greatest possible value. Individual Effort Lacking As Walter S. Hiatt points out in a splendid article on this subject which appeared in Sunday’s New York Times, we are ail paying too much attention to the needs and requirements of organized business, mass production and standardized efficiency, while we pay too little to the opportunities of individual effort which are developing in so many lines. The average young man, and the older one for that matter, shows altogether too much concern about what other people ought to do for him and not half enough about what he might do for himself. Reviewing the Past It is a good thing now and then to go back and review the past, especially its rough spots. Generally speaking, the rough spots have been too well concealed. We like our history sweet. Once in a blue moon, however, some author or biographer comes along with a vivid picture of what actually took place, and we learn with amazement that ours is not the first or only generation to haVfe suffered from graft, crooked politics and other human weaknesses. Dennis Tilden Lynch performed a real service in his recently published Life of “Boss” Tweed. It is one of those fascinating accounts which hold the reader’s attention chiefly because of the colorful background painted in and the clear delineation of characters who played important parts. This book is more than a biography. It is an etching of what was one of the most glorious and disgusting epics in our history. It reveals the clover patch in which Tweed and his kind fed — the thievery that was made possibly. It is a book that every student of the mid-Victorian period ought to read.

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., Washington, 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. What is the Christian flag and how did it originate? It grew out of the legend of Constantine the Great, who jrfct before his battle with his brother-Maxen-tius at Milvian bridge, for the control of the Roman empire, is saidfo have seen a flaming cross in the sky and heard the words “In hoc signo vinces” —“By this sign thou shalt conquer.” Constantine declared an

Hey! How About a Little Steam?

'Old San Francisco' Proves That Underworld Plays Are Coming Back Strong as Popular Favorites BY WALTER D. HICKMAN ——-

Some years ago, crime and underworld stories had a great hold on the public. “Within the Law" belongs to that school of plays which made fortunes for many* some years ago. Those who are duty bound to find out the sort of theatrical diet people will demand, have

decided that the crook and underworld movie and stage play will lead the fashion this season. With such plays as "Crime,” “Broadway” and “Burlesque” firmly established in the larger cities, and “The Trial of Mary Dugan” now a great hit. it seems that those who forecast the- i atrical tastes were

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Dolores Costello

not wrong. And so. it is not surprising to see underworld stories arrive on the screen. I consider “Old San Francisco as a rather modest gesture in the direction of this type of play. This movie does not get underworld ii) complexion until the old Chinatown in ’Frisco before the earthquake, is introduced. The last half of this movie is filled with the sort of melodra--that one expects to find in the mysterious circles in Chinatown. “Old San Francisco” starts in a rat.ier lofty atmosphere, showing the explorers of a King of Spain claiming California for tfiat king. We are then concerned with a fine old Spanish family by the name of Vasquez. We see tha early splendor of this family, and then when the actual story begins we see Frisco in 1906. We then meet other descendants of the Vasquez family. They still have pride and fine sense of family, but not too much cash. Dolores Vasquez, as played by Dolores Costello, is a beautiful and good girl. She knows that most of her ancestors, mainly the men, have died in combat and finally she remains as the only one of the family. She then becomes the center of a plot on the part of a dirty and corrupt political leader in Frisco to wreck her socially and financially. Our hero this time is Terrence, nicely played by Charles E. Mack, who looks much like Jack Pickford. Os course, our villain is Chinese under the skin and he worships foreign gods ip a strange way. Some of the grotesque touches in this story reminds me of “The Shanghai Gesture.” The earthquake scenes have been splendidly handled. It is about as realistic an earthquake that one would like to see any place. Sometimes one gets confused because the real thread of the story gets lost now and then, but on the whole, I think, you will find “Old San Francisco” an entertaining gesture toward a type of entertainment that is going to be popular this season. -The bill includes the first of

end to persecution of Christians in the famouse edict of Milan"" (A. D. 313) and became the first Christian emperor. The flag consists of a red of blue cross on a white field. What are the chemical constituents of compressed yeast? Compressed yeast contains 65.1 per cent water, 11.7 pe. cent proteins or body building materials, 21 per cent fat and 1.8 per cent ash. •The fermenting process in some cases acts upon the blood as a purifier and laxative, and is recommended by some physicians and hospitals in the treatment of boils, pimples, etc, •

another series of the Collegians, called "Crimson Colors.” The freshmen in the first series have grown into second-year men. The new series gets a promising start. The bill includes an overture directed by Stolarevsky, an Aesop Fable and a news reel. At the Circle all week. BEBE DANIELS BECOMES VERY MUCH LIKE TRUDY Am telling you, my dear, that this Bebfe Daniels person is getting to look and act like Trudy Ederle, that channel swimming person. Am telling you the truth because it is no hidden fact, because I have just seen Bebe Daniels

in “Swim, Girl, Swim." in which she wears a bathing suit and a coat of grease just like Gertrude Ederle. She should, because Truly is present in this picture. She turns Bebe into a swimming shark. In many a play w'e see the green freshman in male form, but Bebe’s play producers realize that there is also the

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Bebe Daniels

green freshie in female form. And Bebe is that sort afjt well meaning person at a college. She is very studious, is this Bebe. She looking glasses which makes her look like the wrath of the campus. She is wild over bugs and insects, and it was only when a collection of bees impressed upon her the importance of leaving them alone that Bebe turned from bugs to athletics. Bebe goes in for athletics just because the leader of the school is a guy who is wild over athletics, especially when good looking girls are present. And so our freshie heroine decides to take up swimming. Her record was good because her mother was the champion wader at a girls’ school years ago. And Bebe believed that water wings were the salvation of any yqung girl who wanted to learn to swim. “Swim, Girl, Swim,” is a regulation Bebe Daniels story. It is full of life and pep, and has more than enough comedy. It gives Bebe a chance to look very awkward and very sad, and she also has a chance to be the good-looking girl that she is. Miss Daniels has a sure comedy sense, developed after years and years of work before the camera. She loves to work. That I have no doubt of, because I have seen her work several times when I visited the studio in New York. Have seen her work before the camera on board an English ship bound for Bermuda. I know that she has the joy of work in her, and her photoplays reflect that joy. Especially so does “Swim, Girl, Swim,” in which Bebe turns out to be a champion swimmer with the aid of Trudy. James Hall is the good-looking male who plays opposite. He has that made-to-order college look about him which is somewhat similar to the patent leather type. The bill includes a Mack Sennett comedy, a news reel, Emil Seidel and his orchestra. At the Apollo all week. MEET “ISOBEL” BECAUSE SHE SURE IS VERY FAST Isobel, the engine that was the laugh of the road, was the cause of it all. Luke was the engineer that caused the mighty Casey to break the record of the road and win for the L. & M. R. R. the juciest plum of all--the United States mail contract. , ‘Tell it to Sweeney” is a sage of railroading. Though how a railroad could let a manjjotter around like Luke did is a trifle bpyond comprehension. Anyway Luke made Casey 'late on one of his runs and Casey

couldn’t forget it, even if he was in love with Luke's daughter Doris. Old-time slap stick stuff and the more modern, but nevertheless slap stick, methods are

mixed together and “Tell It to Sweeney” is the result. Chest e r Conklin of the droopy mustache, and George Bancroft, who made a name for himself in “Underworld.” are co-starred as two engineers who finally “rate” the best runs on the road. Love, they say, never runs

Chester smoothly, so there Conklin must be opposition for Casey\in his "affair de cour” with Luke’s daughter, but in this case the opposition comes out the better and Doris becomes the wife of the son of the president of the road. Loud talk and loud laughter on the part of Bancroft and a dumb loqk on the part of Conklin make the film funny in spots. There are parts where the comedy aspect is strained, and instead of the plot being funny it becomes ridiculous. But, in spite of the few weaknesses and flaws, the film upholds the comedy tradition and get3 the laughs across in a right good fashion. Doris Hill has the part of Doris, the daughter of Luke, and as such she wins the heart of Jack, played by Jack Luden. While their work is not brilliant, it is wholesome and good. This picture is just good old-fash-ioned comedy and “mellerdrama” mixed together, and has a particularly savory flavor. Joe Alexander presents another of his “organlogs,” and the University Trio has arranged several numbers of the more popular variety for presentation. A news reel and a comedy complete the bill. At the Ohio the rest of the week. (By the Observer.) MULHALL WINS IN 'I A MIGHTY SMART COMEDY Do j’ou want to be happy? Then I have some mighty good news for you. So come over close and I will whisper the news that is good. Here goes—Jack Mulhall makes the world a brighter and a happier place

to live in since “Smile, Brother, Smile” has been revealed to the N world. Here is one of those wisecracking movies along human lines that comes mighty close to being the funniest thing of the month. I am sure that I would select this Mulhall picture as one of the ten best of the month even if

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Charlie Chaplin Dorothy Mackaill should do such a thing as release ten new movies in a month’s time. “Smile, Brother, Smile” presents us for about the first time a character known as the freshman of the road—meaning the wise and smiling youth, who becomes a traveling salesman and makes his first trip. The old heads in the game have no trouble to recognize the freshman of their species. He is the chap who has more pep than a volcano. He is the lad who makes ’em buy even if he has to camp on the front door step until the milkman appears in the morning. Mulhall has certain qualities and a fresh understanding of the breezy type of an individual who often is known as the pest because of speeding those good intentions across the world at the rate of sixty miles an hour. You knew that there are people

OCT. 3, 1927

Times Readers Voice Views

To the Editor: As I am a daily reader of The Times and an admirer of your fearlessness in uncovering things of an unsavory nature which has not only undermined but destroyed the good name of our city and State, the writer can not hold himself in restraint for asking for space in your paper to release his long pent-up ieelings of disgust and shame. The present political disgrace that has engulfed the entire State is not to be regarded as cheap shelf-worn goods; but it is to be driven out by the loyal support of every citizen in this commonwealth. We can hear it said that it is only an effort of a few disgruntled citizens that were disappointed in politics and that Thomas Adams chose to be the leader, with The Times falling in line. I have been a lifelong resident of Indianapolis and have taken notice of the many things that have transpired politically and religiously since 1894 and have noticed that those who have raved most about keeping the church and State separata are now, and have been for sortie time, endeavoring to effect a union in the disguise of an organization called the Anti-Saloon League with Dr. E. S. Shumaker at the head, or as some may say, the chief fixer and delator of all things that may enhance the filling of his pocketbook. To the writer’s view he can only see ruin ahead for all churches who fall for his doctrine. The writer himself was at one time a churchgoer and took an active interest in religious work, but such fanatics as we have today have driven myself as well as thousands of others away from the church. Society and the church would be more healthy socially and otherwise without those destructionists of the E. S. Shumaker type. There is not room enough in the U. S. A. for those of the above mentioned class. The office seeker who has not enough courage to tell such persons to attend to their own private affairs and not speak his name has not the business qualities to transact the public's business in a legitimate manner. The writer is a prohibitionist and wants E. s. Shumaker and all who follow him to use more common sense in their efforts to keep whisky out. Does Dr. Shumaker know that it is a crime to deny the use of alcoholic liquors in treating disease, and that he and all those who participated in making the Wright bone dry law are law violators themselves? If not read the law on criminal neglect, then be penny wise and not pound foolish. No supergovernment for me. E. G. BROWN, 2752 Cornell Ave.

Movie Verdict APOLLO—Bebe Daniels looks and acts like Gertrude Edcr.'c in ’’Swim, Girl, Swim.” ing Bebe Daniels comedy. 'w\, OHlO—Conklin and Bancroft railroad their way to fame and fortune as engineers of the L. & M. Railroad via Isobel, an antique engine of the road, in “Tell It to Sweeneny.” CIRCLE—“OId San* Francisco” is the type of an underworld movie which is going to be highly popular this season. INDIANA—Jack Mulhall is a comedy wonder in “Smile Brother, Smile.” It is bound to be one of the six best movies of the month.

who look like a breeze. Well, Mulhall looks like that type and he is splendidly cast as Jack, the breeza of the traveling salesmen, in this comedy. Mulhall has taken the place that Jack Pickford could have had in the love and esteem of movie-going people if Pickford had kept trying. In looking over the list of future leaders, I have the feeling that Mulhall will be soon in the class of such old-time favorites as Mary 'Pickford, Doug Fairbanks, Bebe Daniels and the few others. And for once, Dorothy Mackail as the telephone girl in the beauty article manufacturing place, is able to get from under the ether ax and give a very live and human performance. The face lifting scene between Miss Mackail and MUlhall is a comedy gem. The subtitles are full of real comedy material, often very wise and rapid, but real fun. “Way Out West,” the stage presenation, gives Charlie Davis arid the orchestra a chance to show how they look in cowboy attire. Jack Powell has a drum specialty number of so much novelty that he stops the show. Mighty clever work. Lang and Voelk in their comedy song number also have the power to stop the show cold. The dancing girls in their ensemble tap dancing work are tma best trained girls that the Indiana has had this season. This presenta-J tion is full of real beauty. Judging by the applause and the material used this presentation has the right to top the list so far. Am glad that Maurice this week breaks away from that novelty organ stuff and get down to real business. He is playing “Marche Slav” and this number gives Maurice a chance to do some real playing and he does. He should do more of this sort of playing. At the Indiana all week. • * __ I Other "Indianapolis theaters today offer: “Hell’s Bells” at the Colonial; J. Francis Haney at the Lyrfr; Count Berni Vici at Keith’s; “Jaza time Revue” at the Mutual; Tu*a ney-Dempsey fight pictures at tht Rialto and Band Box; "Tomh Gang” at the Isis and movies at the Rivoli. How many persons by the name of Smith are there in the United States? It is estimated that there ar| 1,300,000. Who is the world’s heavywelghu wrestling champion? jM Joe Stecher is generally so reo|fl nized.