Indianapolis Times, Volume 39, Number 130, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 October 1927 — Page 4

PAGE 4

SCRIPPS-HOr/AXD

Ask the Governor Every citizen of Indiana must be interested in the calling of a special session of the Legislature, not only to right the wrong done to Indianapolis at the regular session, but to do the one thing which should have been done by that body. When the Legislature refused to investigate the political scandals, it set partisan politics above the best interests of this State. At that time Indiana was being held up to its own citizens and to other States as having indulged in a very bad brand of politics. The majority members under orders of the bosses, made suppression a party policy. The demand from the opposition was not very strong. Only one or two members made any noise about it. There was not that insistence of determined men which would have shamed the majority into action. Since that time the Marion County grand jury has made charges of a very grave nature which indicated that there was a real necessity for a thorough investigation. The real shame of Indiana has been that there has been a persistent use of power to prevent the people from knowing the truth. The real indictment of Indiana comes not from its grand juries but from the officials who have used their influence to prevent investigations. It is no longer possible to point to Stephenson, former Grand Dragon and political boss, call him a blackmailing convict and declare that he was accusing men in high places for the purpose of forcing his liberation and that he had nothing with which to back up his charges. The grand jury now has the “Black Boxes” which contain the record of the shameful days of his dictatorship of this State. The contents of the boxes should be known and the Legislature is the proper body to bring them to the light. The people have a conscience which is not limited by laws or set aside by the statute of limitations. The gravest acts are conceivably not' punishable under the criminal laws. They are grave because they may indicate the depravity of those who dealt with this super-government and made bargains, secret bargains, that were against the will of the majority. The people of this State are more interested in keeping out of office in the future those who dealt with dragons than they are in filling their jails with those who may have violated corrupt practices acts or other laws for the protection of elections. i The clean-up in Indiana can only come Avhen evei’y one who had any hand in the shame of Indiana is exposed and driven from public life. A special session of the Legislature at this time would permit just such an inquiry and advertise Indiana as the State which dares to free the facts and which has courage to redeem it elf. Os course, the city of Indianapolis is enii led to a special session to set aside thatfmrrbd law under which the city manager of government is postponed until the term of Duvall expires. That law was essentially dishonest in that it changed the bargain which Duvall had with all the citizens, and legalized the secret ones he made with politicians and secret cliques. Under the law at the time of his election the people had the right to change their form cf government at any time. That law was an essential part of his contract. / The Legislature, yielding to the whip of party leaders, changed that contract and robbed the people of this city. The Governor signed that law. He should be the first to rectify the wrong and restore the right of the people of this city to have the sort of government at the time they were entitled to it under the law which existed when Duvall was declared elected. \ There is a very simple way of getting this special session and that is to make the demand so emphatic that the Governor can not ignore it. If every citizen interested in honesty were to write to him or call him on the telephone, he would then understand that the people are in earnest. A few delegations from city clubs matching on the State House and emphasizing the demand made by the city manager committee would help. Even the Governor might change that attitude which he has assumed and maintained from .the start. , His boast that public officials become more popular under attack and that his majorities always grow with criticism, could be changed if the demand upon him for this special session were properly presented. Surely he would not wish to place himself ia the attitude of refusing a special session for > ' :

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRIFPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) • Owned and published dally (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. JVfAYBORN. Editor. President. Business Manager. PHONE—MAIN 3500. SATURDAY, OCT. 8, 1927. Member ol United Press, Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association. Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau ol Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”— Dante.

the reason that he might fear any full and complete investigation of all State affairs. Surely no friend of his tvould advise him* against a special session for the reason that the exposure of the “Black Boxes” might be damaging to some of his friends. **' Write to the Governor today. Tell him what you want. And if you are really serious about it, go up to the State House and make your appeal. The right of petition • still exists. It is yours. And here surely is something worth asking for. “The King of the Bootleggers” Remus, most miserable of millionaires, has come to an Ibsen-like end. Charged with murder, he sits in his cell, symbol of the futility of riches without character. Poor little man! Everything he touched turned to gold and the gold became a corruption that destroyed him. It entered his home and destroyed it; it touched his mind with a madness that sent him on his errand of murder. A pathetic clown that went about slappping at society, in the end he was dreadfully slapped himself and now lies crushed and bleeding. People envied him his quick riches. A poor lawyer from Chicago, he loomed suddenly on the horizon of Cincinnati, a glittering figure on the streets, giving five-dollar tips to newsboys. On the doorstep of the building he had for his office his vaunted name in colored tiles. He bought a great house and filled it with tawdy splendor. He built a Roman bath, think to make a great splash in the city with a luxury that was not in the home of even Cincinnati’s wealthiest. Surely, he thought, such display mukt lift him to high place in the community. Is not money the god before all the world bows? He wanted respectability and the May music festivals and the symphonies found him and his wife in choice seats. But people only laughed at him, though it was to weep at the pathetic little man who was like one in a golden ship, floundering about without a compass. Whither can a man go without character to show him the way? How far may a man sail without wrecking his golden ship, if he have not this compass? Only here and there were there other fools who respected him and thought to emulate him. These said: We, too, must be rich like Remus. We, too, will get it quickly and be as gorgeous as he. The corruption of his gold had commenced to spread to destroy others. More than a score of corrupted policemen went to prison and hundreds of other men, seeking to imitate this most absurd of men, fell likewise to destruction. , But in the nostrils of Remus the corruption was still a pleasant incense. He breathed of it deeply and said, “This is the breath of life.” He felt strong. He rejoiced in his name in bright color on his doorstep. He splashed in his Roman bath. When the law seized him and convicted him of felonies, he had even then no sense of the creeping destruction. Money was power. Money could hire the minds of good lawyers. Money would carry his cause to every court. Money would save him. Money was everything. It had lifted him from obscurity and had given him the Roman bath and the luxury that filled his house. But money only postponed the day. In the end he went to prison. And when he was out of this prison he was flung, into another. He had bedecked his wife with silks and jewels, that she might shine in that lofty place where his money was to lift her. He took her to the concerts that she might be seen in all the glory that he had given her, and that people might say, "She is the wife of Remus.” He felt the pride of a creator and his eyes blinked in the presence of his dazzling creation. But when he came at length from prison she was gone from him. He heard that it was even one who had helped to place him in prison who had taken her. Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad and the yellow god that Remus had erected was not yet through with him. In wild fury he went about the country, pursuing his wife. The wealth he had spent to glorify her he now spent to pursue her. So, until that moment recently when the pursuit ended and he killed her. One must pity George Remus with the fraternity that is due to a fellow-fool, Fcf, are the follies that destroyed him his alone? Is he the only worshiper of the yellow gold? Is he alone in exalting the might of money? Has he been a solitary traveler of the golden road on wliich he sought happiness ? A safety council officer calls moving day the most dangerous of the year. Doesn’t that depend on whether or not your rent is paid? The league has ruled war off the books. Hereafter when European nations desire to go to war, it must be on the defensive.

Law and Justice Bj Dexter U. Keezer

A man borowed $3,000 to pay some gambling debts. He refused to repay it, on the ground that the loan was concerned with the illegal activity of gambling and that consequently any agreement concerning it was void, as contrary to public policy. The man who had loaned the money brought suit to force repayment. He argued that a loan to be used in paying gambling debts was not made invalid because of the illegality of the gambling which had resulted In the debts. HOW WOULD YOU DECIDE THIS CASE? The actual decision: The Court of Appeals of Ohio decided that the man who had loaned the $3,000 was entitled to repayment, on the ground that this loan, although arising out of gambling activity, was not a part of it, but a separate and valid transaction. „ '

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. TRACY SAYS: There Is Not a Citizen in the United States Who Does Not Violate Some of the Laws He Is Expected to Obey Every Week.

After serving six years of a thirty-year sentence in the Wis-corr-ia penitentiary on the charge of robbing a bank, John Bohmer will be released. The district attorney who obtained BohmW’s conviction says that he now believes the man innocent. A far more pathetic case occurred in Mississippi some time ago, when a prisoner sentenced to life for murder was after serving twenty-six years by a death bed confession of the man, who actually did it. Make State Pay? It is gratifying, of course, for an innocent man to be vindicated. It cannot help affording him a deal of satisfaction, no matter ,how much he has suffered, but, as a matter of exact justice, he deserves more. If a railroad injures a passenger or employe, we make it pay. Why should not the State pay when it injures a citizen, and what worse injury is there than to mark a citizen as a criminal, take him away from his family and friends and shut him up behind iron bars? Injured by Law It is a curious thing that while our laws provide for all kinds of damages and compensation to those who are harmed by individuals and corporations, they make no provision for the State assuming an equal responsibility. If a workman falls from a building, we have a statute that guarantees him a certain amount of money while he is laid up, or his famliy a certain amount if he dies. The State, however, can take that same workman into court, accuse him of a crime he did not commit, convict him, put him in prison, keep him there for several years and then release him after discovering the mistake without one cent by way of reparation. There is no justice in such a situation, the State ought to be more zealous in caring for those whom it injures than any other institution. It certainly ought to do as much as it requires other institutions to do. Millions of Laws According to Merle Thorpe, there are no less than 1,900,000 laws on the statute books of this country, and “if a New York policeman read steadily eight hours a day the laws with which he .is required to be familiar, it would take him seven weeks to read them all.” We have come to a situation where our judges; district attorneys, sheriffs and peace officers cannot possibly familiarize themselves with the laws they are expected to enforce, not to mention the poor citizen who is expected to obey those laws and for whom ignorance is no excuse. There is not a citizen in the United States who can repeat onehalf of 1 per cent of the laws he is expected to obey, or who does not violate some of them every week without realizing it. How can anybody with common sense look for effective law enforcement under such circumstances? Storm in Mexico The last week has seen a storm gather in Mexico. One does not know yet whether it will develop into a tempest or pass away as quickly as it arose, leaving the situation clear as a summer sky: The suddenness with which it broke is more than matched by the savagery with which President Calles has attacked it. One presidential candidate, three or four generals and several political leaders of more or less prominence have already fallen before the firing squad, not to mention a raft of small fry that perished in the scrimmage. The Senate has expelled three of its members and passed a resolution declaring confidence in the Government. The Government declares it has the rebellion well in hand, but the border hears that instead of this being so, the rebellion has spread to thirteen States. Cover Eyes in Horror We Americans are not only bewildered, but shocked, which would mean vastly more if it did not represent our chronic state of mind toward Mexico. Ever since Porflrio Diaz fell, we have sobbed with sympathy, only to swear with indignation the next. At the outset, we were all for Francisco I. Madero, all'for “the 85 per cent submerged,” as Wilson put it, all for revolution and freedom. No sooner did we see what the thing really looked like than we covered our eyes in horror. U. S, Course Is Futile We do not understand Mexico very well and propagandists have made the most of it. A good deal of the time, people with axes to grind, have led us around by the nose, have caused us not only to meddle without realizing what it meant, but to compromise when we found ourselves up a blind alley. The first principle of a sound policy towards Mexico is recognition of the fact that she and the United States have very little in common when it comes to background, traditions and problems.

r ——~— /veil \ if ’KEEPAK.)

(New Albany (Ind.) Tribune) It looks like Doc Shumaker is a good deal of an ingrate. He wants a double standard —one for the other fellow and oqe for himself. When a man, Senator Jim Watson, whom Shumaker Avvarentlu claimed as a friend, refused to pernppa e y to coerce Qr thc Shumaker State Supreme Court in Shumaker's nvt Jnarate behalf the dry doctor became incensed an ingraie afc Indlana>s senlor senator It looks ;#.e when Shumaker can not rule he wants to ruin. When a man tries to injure a man he calls friend just because that friend refuses to perform some illegal and wrong act that party can well be called an ingrate. When a man goes around preaching and teaching obedience to law and is then guilty of trying to persuade anybody—let alone a friend—to- do a wrongful act—say, for instance, unduly influence a judge or a court—he is—well name him yourself! The testimony in the Duvall trial at Indianapolis also indicates that Shumaker tried to persuade Duvall to make a pre-primary promise to appoint George Snider as chief of police of Indianapolis in case he w r as nominated and elected. Snider said: “I would not take the job.” Shumaker’s act of course was all contrary to good government and the statutes made and provided in the corrupt practices act. Yet Shumaker talks of law violations and law violators. Any and all persons who, by any untoward methods, attempt to control by intimidation, coercion, conspiracy or in any other illegal way an election or even a man’s vote had better not talk of law violation. All old English law provides that parties coming into court must come with clean hands. Doc Shumaker should read up on that. (Rensielaer Republican) (Republican) Many Indiana citizens >yill see through the conviction of Mayor John L. Duvall of Indianapolis, the hand writing on the wall to clean this State of corrupt politics. The Hand Duvall was found guilty of political TJ . ~. crimes by a jury in the Marion County Writing on Criminal Court. He’ll have to serve the Wall thirty days in jail and pay a fine of SI,OOO if his appeals for anew trial fail. John W. Holtzman, former mayor and a special prosecutor retained to try Duvall, hailed the verdict of the jury, only out two hours, as a great victory in the fight to cleanse Indiana of corrupt political forces which have misruled the State. And we believe that his prophecy will bear fruit. Holtzman further said: "It will put an end to the buying of candidates, to the putting up of weaklings and political tools by organized forces which have heretofore held sway. We are not too sanguine, but we look for the death of intolerance and political greed at the end of this

Thumb-Nail Sketches

One, two, three—twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-FIVE! Lashes from a cruel whip falling across the stout black shoulders of a slave because he had run off to a dance with his sweetheart! Those lashes are only memories now, but the dark, ugly scars still remain on the shoulders that are now stooped and bent with age. Will was 17 when those fearful lashes fell. He need not have taken them. The way was open for him to escape into the north through the Underground Railway, for those were the hectic times of the Civil War. But there was Mary Ann. To run off and leave her to whatever fate awaited could not be endured, so he returned to take the whipping and later, with Mary Ann, he “lit out for Nicholasville like it was heaven!" and there began their long life together. Mary Ann was a slave on a neighboring plantation and the two had known each other and been in love ever since they were children. For twenty-five years they lived in Indianapolis and reared three children, whom they have outlived. When at last Will became too old to provide a living for himself and Mary Ann, kindly neighbors decided to send them to the Alpha Home for Aged Colored People. The home that looked like a haven of peace for them was suddenly turned topsy-turvy when they discovered that admitting aged men to the home was a special concession and that Will would doubtless have to live by himself. But Mary Ann would not desert. “We got no time to be parted!" she declared, “I’ve looked after Pa for mor’n sixty-five years and he cain’t do without me now!” So they were established in their new home together, happy that there was an Alpha Home for them, and for the Alpha Home, YOUR COMMUNITY FUND

Bootleg Stuff

What Other Editors Think

rTmmrLr

gSD \ NAIIO‘ /

investigation of Indiana’s politics, and this first step will be a powerful incentive to the righteous to come forward.” With the convictions of Stephenson, McCray, Shumaker and Duvall, political organizations and leaders which have fought for good government in this State can now come out for anew breath of freedom, for the hand writing on the wall is becoming visible inscribing the names of those who sought to drag the great commonwealth down into the mire. * (Steuben Republican) Anew slant has put upon the case of the people of. Indiana versus Dr. E. S. Shumaker, president of the Indiana Anti-Saloon League, by the publication of correspondence between Dr. Shu- Dr. Shumaker and Senator Watson, , which has been brought to light maker S through the claim of Attorney-General Case Gilliom that Shumaker solicited political aid to have the Supreme Court dismiss or give light sentence in the charges of contempt of court on the part of Shumaker in speaking harshly of members of the court. A short time ago this paper stated that we believed the Supreme Court erred in finding Shumaker guilty of contempt because of his utterances. The charge that he solicited politicians to influence the nding of the court is a far more serious one, and if true is reprehensible. There may be several mitigating circumstances and the public should not be too-hasty In drawing conclusions nor infer too much from the published correspondence until all the facts are known. It does not yet appear that anyone asked to approach the court did so, all of them rejecting Mr. Shumaker’s importunities as unethical and illegal. If such be the case, Mr. Shumaker only displayed very poor taste and a woeful lack of the limitations of political influence, to such a degree it is true as to lower himself greatly in the estimation of a great many good people. Whether this is a matter for legal action and punishment is doubtful, if the court was not itself threatened or intimated. It should further be borne in mind that Dr. Shumaker is not the Anti-Saloon League—merely a salaried officer employed to push forward the purpose of the organization. The Anti-Saloon League is only efficiently organized force for developing sentiment for prohibition and for fighting the encroachments of sentiment against our present prohibition laws. Most of those who desire to see prohibition a permanent policy for this country will stand back of the Anti-Saloon League as the greatest if not the only educational force to that end. If the leaders make mistakes the members will change their leaders.

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OCT. 8, 1927 1

Times Readers Voice Views

To the Editor: While visiting with a business associate last Sunday one of his gueits referred to the middle West, whereupon I remarked that Indiana was my native State and its capital city my home. I informed the guest that I came from the State of Rileys, the Tarkingtons, the Nicholsons of literary fame; the Hendricks, the Fairbanks, the Beveridges and the Marshals of political fame; the State of agriculture and of industry, the geog.aphical center of the nation. Then I boasted of "No Mean City,” the best planned city in all America. Indianapolis with its beautiful monument symbol of a great State’s adoration for those who fought in defense of the republic, its influential churches that were carrying the message to the masses; the home of that great service organization—the American Legion; then I told of the new Butler University, the splendid public and parochial schools, the excellent theaters, the diversified industries, the city of homes. The guest was not greatly Impressed with my voluble account of Indiana’s greatness because she had been reading the Sunday edition of the New York Times wherein it discussed the political situation and hoped for the future of the Hoosier commonwealth. The Times told the story of political intrigue and corruption. The story told boldly those things which we have permitted to exist for months. The Philadelphia Record in an editorial this morning remarks that all Philadelphia, despite their own political muddle, will observe the action taken by Hootlerdom. I am glad that I represent the generation that has just voted a few times. We shall profit by this exhibition of gross negligence on the part of some public officials. We shall eliminate the men who must control political machines in our State because we are doubtful of breaking the machines. It is time that the people of Indiana indignantly clamor for fair play in all departments of government. The time has come for a militant people with only one objective—the purification of the public office in Indiana. Let us begin with the capital city and oust Mayor Duvall. Let us go to him through the press and demand that he permit the civic clubs to name the city controller and then step aside. His conviction causes us to waver in our respect for him. Give Indianapolis a real mayor, one who will impress the world with the greatness of our inland city. One who has the interests of the city above all thoughts of personal gain and glorification. Asa former resident of Indianapolis I think I have the right to voice the hope that a mayor convicted of violation of the corrupt practices act should resign immediately. If he has the interests of the city at heart he can take no other action. We cannot continue to see sacred power flaunted in this manner. Asa Hoosier. I hope that if any charges against our Governor be proven that he resign immediately and let the chair of Governor of the great State of Indiana be again placed in its rightful position among those of its sister commonwealths. As an American, I am looking hopefully into the future when the people of Indiana shall resume the traditions of their fathers and demand that public office shall always be a sacred trust. I hope the municipality of Indianapolis shall cast off the cloak of political rottenness and again resume her place among the great cities of the world. Let us hope that common sense shall replace bigotry, that honor shall replace greed, that petty hatreds and ambitions political shall be cast aside and that a united people shall proudly lift the torch of Indiana higher and proclaim to all the world that Hoosier land has been bom anew. RALPH BROUGHMAN. Milford, Del., Oct. 5, 1927.