Indianapolis Times, Volume 39, Number 204, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 January 1928 — Page 4

PAGE 4

"CIT SeR IPPS -Ho W A Jto

A New Note Anew political note was sounded when Walter Myers announced his willingness and desire to become a Senator from Indiana. Myers evidently believes that the way to clean up political conditions is to denounce the evils in politics and point to the causes of those evils. Instead of hiding behind sonorous phrases, Myers jabs with detailed indictment. He does not seem to be afraid of the shadow of the Ku-Klux Klan or offending members of his own party who may have a lingering affection for the hooded order. That is different from what the voters have been hearing for the past year. When the campaign of a year ago was in progress and the State was interested in the contents of the “Black Boxes” of Stephenson, the Democratic orators were talking of tariffs. At a time when corruption was a live issue with the people, it was dead with the candidates of both parties. The entrance of Myers into the race for the Democratic nomination seems to end that period of fear and silence in regard to real evils. For there is no mistake concerning the cause of the evils of politics in Indiana. The bosses made terms with intolerance and bigotry and the dotted line contracts of Stephensonism. The triumph of these forces in 1924 was repeated in anew form by the same influences in 1926. To that sinister event the Democratic party offered no protest or at least small protest. It will be at least interesting to the independent voter to note that the coming of Myers ends this apathetic indifference to real issues. It is just possible that he will inaugerate a competition in virtue instead of a contest m suppression.

Freedom for Cities Last week a judge at South Bend rendered a decision that should call attention to the extent to which cities have lost their right to self-gov-ernment. He decided that the creation of the State tax board for the purpose of supervising the expenditures of cities was illegal. The State, of will appeal and the Supreme Court may again give power to that body. But the decision will call to public attention the fact that the city is no longer an independent unit of government and that in its most important functions has come under bureaucratic control. The creation of the tax board was for the avowed purpose of forcing cities to be economical. That many towns and cities may have been unwise, from an outside viewpoint, in the way they spent their money, may be taken for granted. But when the State attempted to set up a board which should supervise city governments, it said in effect that self-government is a failure and that the people have no ability to rule themselves. That State tax board in theory was fascism in a subtle form as opposed to self-government. The State tax board or bureau was made more powerful than mayors and city councils. It had power, and still exercises it, to curb taxation and to say what money should be spent. Os course, the cities have to raise their own money. It is not the State’s money, which the State board guards and watches. That the board itself finally conceived itself as a super-government for the State was indicated when it attempted to exercise the right to tell the people of the city of Huntington that they could not have a municipal light plant because the board members thought the power could be ,more economically obtained from a private monopoly. Then it was suddenly discovered that this matter of' self-government did not rest with this particular bureau but with another State body and that its blockade of the municipal plant was purely gratuitous and entirely mistaken as to right to say anything about it. But the incident indicates the attitude that always prevails within bureaus that are far removed from the source of power. They become inevitably autocratic and arrogant. They inevitably assume that the people know nothing and are to be ruled instead of ruling themselves. One of the great troubles today is that the government has gotten so far away from the people that they no longer have any power over their own laws or officers. We take most of our State problems to bureaus in Washington. We have lodged our rights in bureaus instead of safeguarding them with laws. Ia the States, the cities and counties are controlled by Legislatures, which in turn are creating bureaus that are composed of men

The Indianapolis Times (A SCKtPPS-HOWAKD NEWSPAPER) Owned and published dally (except Bunday> by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos., 314-320 W • Maryland Street. Indianapolis, Ind. Price In Marlon County. 3 cents —lO cents a week; elsewhere. 3 cents—l 2 cents a week. B °YD GURLEY. ROY W. HOWARD. FRANK G. MORRISON. Editor. President. * Business Manager PHONE—MAIN 3500. TUESDAY, JAN. 3, 1928. Member ol United Press. Scrlops-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.

who owe allegiance to some appointing power rather than to the people themselves. Let it be hoped that the decision of Judge Dahl of South Bend is good law and that this one board is abolished. If it remains after an appeal, the next Legislature should wipe out these boards that rule instead of serve the people. More Evidence Harry F. Sinclair, multimillionaire oil man; William J. Burns, the detective and five others, are definitely accused by a District of Columbia grand jury of conspiracy to obstruct justice in having the junrs In the Fall-Sinclair trial investigated and shadowed by detectives. This is just as true as if the grand jury had returned an indictment, instead of a "presentiment.” It will be recalled that some weeks ago, when Fall and Sinclair were on trial on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the Government in the lease of the Teapot Dome Oil Reserve, it was discovered by government agents that the jurors were being kept under surveillance. Government attorneys charged this was for the purpose of establishing contacts with them in the hope of swaying their verdict. Justice Siddons at once ordered a mistrial. Peyton Gordon, the district attorney, accused Sinclair, Henry Mason Day and Sheldon Clark, employes of Sinclair; Bums, Burns’ son, W. Sherman Burns, and Detectives Ruddy and O’Reilly, before the grand Jury. The job of the grand jury was to hear the evidence offered by the Government, to determine if it were sufficient to warrant the men being held for trial. This the grand jury did. Its "presentment” was formal nullification to the court that in the opinion of the jury the men should be brought to trial. A “presentment,” according to Webster, means in law, “the notice taken, or statement made, by a grand jury of any offense or unlawful state of affairs from their own knowledge or observation, without any bills or indictment laid before them.” A presentment is the necessary forerunner of indictments, which are drawn by the district attorney, and returned as a true bill to the court by the jury. The fact that no indictments were returned was due to the failure of the district attorney to draw them. Why he did not do so is not clear. He may have thought that the contempt proceedings now in progress before Justice Siddons, which may result in summary sentences from the bench, were ample. He may have wished not to add further trials to the miltiplicity of legal actions which have grown up about the oil frauds. To many it will be disappointing that he did not make the indictments, since this would have served as an additional hold on the accused men, for use in event of the failure of the contempt proceedings. There seems to be question as to whether the presentment can hold over for possible future use. Probably this is only interesting academically, for it seems apparent that the district attorney has no intention of going beyond the contempt proceedings. The grand jury which investigated the case is! qredited with being unusually capable. Numerous! witnesses were heard over a period of four or five ! weeks. This jury, in effect, told* the court that it believed that the Government was Justified in its accusations that Sinclair and Burns and their agents were seeking to defeat justice by influencing the trial jury. This te the important thing. '

Lest Crime Incriminate Itself President Coolidge's action in signing the Walsh bill, which permits M. T. Everhart, former Secretary Fall’s son-in-law, to testify for the Government in the Fall-Sinclair trial without Incriminating himself, serves to call attention once again to a detail of our criminal procedure which always will seem incomprehensible and useless to the layman. That detail Is the legal quirk which permits a man accused of crime to refuse to testify, but which does not allow the jury to hold this against him when it deliberates Its verdict. Everhart’s case, of course, is different; not accused of crime himself, he has refused to testify on the ground that he would incriminate himself by so doing. The Walsh bill will prevent him from giving this excuse any longer. It will not, however, affect the underlying situation—the "constitutional immunity” enjoyed by all defendants and all witnesses. Originally, one imagines, the law excusing a prisoner from testifying was devised to prevent the possibility of torture being used to extort a confession. It was not so many generations ago that the rack and whip were considered essential adjuncts of any well-ordered court. But we have progressed a bit since then., No prisoner, called into an American court, need fear that judge and prosecutor will stop the trial and affix the thumb screws to get him to tell his story. And so, we ask, why not abolish, or at least radically modify, the whole “constitutional immunity” business? If a man accused of murder, or bribery, refrains from testifying in his own behalf, why not allow the prosecutor to draw for the jury’s benefit the logical deductions—that the prisoner is guilty and knows that any story he might tell on the witness stand would make the fact plain? The present system is a fine one for guilty men and unscrupulous lawyers. We fail to see how it greatly benefits innocent men who are wrongly accused; such men ought to be glad to testify. And we fail also to see how it benefits society as a whole. In none of Lindbergh’s speeches did he refer to being shot at while on his flight to the Mexican capital, so it must be taken for granted that there are more peaceful conditions prevailing in that country at the present time than there have been for many years.—Hartford City News. France and Italy will hold a meeting to end their discord. This will be a hot session.—Plymouth Democrat. What an advantage a murderer has in having an insane ancestor!—Elwood Call. Favorite sons seem to be favorite for only one thing and that is for trading purposes.—Hartford City News. The great need is not a gas that won’t burst into flame, but prejudices that won’t.—Warsaw Union.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

BRIDGE ME ANOTHER (Copyright. 1927. by The Ready Reference Publishing Company.) BY W. W. WENTWORTH

(Abbreviations: A—ace: K—king; Q—aueen; J—jack; X—any card lower than 10.) 1. Give five illustrations of suits surely stopped. 2. What rule applies when player leads from wrong hand? 3. In no-trump, dummy holds K X X of suit led by opponents. Should dummy take with K first round? The Answers 1. A or K Q or Q J 10 or K J 10 jr J 10 9 8. 2. Player may be compelled to lead same suit from the right hand. 3. Yes, if declarer holds no card In suit above 10.

Times Readers V Voice Views

The name and address of the author must accompany every contribution, but on request will not be published, tetters not exceeding 200 words will receive preference. To the Editor: "Asa man thinketh so is he” is the sum and total of every human being and all that he is or does. It was the way to think, that Christ and all great teachers have tried to teach us. Because it is what we think that causes what we do and what we are and builds character and soul, the only thing that is really worth while in life for "What does it profit a man though he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” Thousands upon thousands of dollars are spent in preserving lives in institutions of various kinds which is very commendable because in preserving a man’s life he is given a chance to build character and soul. But would it not be far commendable in maintaining such institutions to have them in charge of the proper teachers and leaders that would teach and show these most helpless of all how to build character? What good Is a ship at sea without a pilot? No more good than a man’s life without proper thoughts to guide it and the right kind of thinking can be cultivated in any mind that the wrong kind of thinking is cultivated in and no one will ever do wrong while they are thinking right, you had just as well expect to grow roses from turnip seeds. The only way to redemption of mankind is in teaching them the principles and fundamentals of right thinking. Sounds simple, but there have been many of the greatest lives spent in this great subject and after millions of years how many people think correctly? All of us do at times and all of us do not at times. But it is only though continued efforts along the right lines that we attain perfection. Why not have Institutions, not prisons, where we can teach such unfortunates, for that is what they are, as young Hickman, Leopold, Loeb, Harry K. Thaw with his millions, but not the proper mental training, Remus and all of their kind for it is all one kind after all, under the care and instructions of the great minds or the Socrates and Platos of today who know how to build character and teach men to think correctly and instead of some weli-meaning minister persuading them 'to “repent” and be saved so the law can put them to death, teach them how to live and think and do right, which is the onlv wav to build character and hence “be saved.” What kind of civilization is it that takes a man in his worst stage and sends him on into eternjty condemned? Man’s salvation comes only through right living, which is done mly through right thinking, and how mariy would be willing to give all their efforts to be of the greatest K eiiefit to mankind, for thta is right living. It is more commendable that we preserve the lives, characters and souls of men than to destroy them in prisons and inefficient institutions and through canital punishment and cruelty. Kindness wins a man and brings out his better qualities, but cruelty destroys him. Hickman's father disowns his son because of his errors, but how much of those errors is the father responsible for? SuDpose God disowned and destroyed us for our errors would He be a Just God? Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” And who of us is without sin? We should extend a helping hand and in nity and kindness dereem all mankind in the way that Christ has taught us. How rhany real Christians do we have in the world who are willing to give all thev have for the salvation of mankind? Plenty are ready to condemn, but too few are ready to help. They would rather destroy a man than go to the trouble to show him the right way to live, for it is no easy task to do after one has the habit of thinking the wrong way. But if there are enough that will answer that call, sin and sorrow and crime will soon cease and not before for there is no law that can govern a mans actions, except the law of thinking, whether it be right or wrong. MARY KELLY. 3174 School St.

Questions and Answers

You can get an answer to any queaslon5 lon 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. A'l other questions will receive a personal reply. Unsigned requests cannot be answered. All letters are confidential.—Editor. What do the following names mean: Bernard, Philip, Emma, George, Alma and Edna? Bernard, “bold as a bear;” Philip, “loving horses;” Emma, "energetic;” George, “husbandman;” Alma, “nourishing,” and Edna, "pleasure.” Where do the Micmac Indians live? This branch of the Algoncjuin tribe of Canada formerly occupied Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island, and large Sections of New Brunswick, Quebec and Newfoundland. In colonial wars the Micmacs sided with the French and those of southern Nova Scotia, especially, made a reputation by inroads upon New England settlements. Now they are all

Hail! The Conquering Hero Cometh

ALEXANDER AS CONQUEROR AyfEANWHILE, in Macedon, the barbarians were preparing. Here was anew and vigorous people, unspoiled with abortion or philosophy, poor enough to be virtuous, and hardened by a life of tillage, peril and simplicity. In 356 P. C. their king, Philip, annexed Thiace, and founded the city of Phiiippi (where Brutus and Antony were to cross swords), in a region of gold mines rich enough to yield ten times the return that now came to Athens from the failing silver of Laurium. Before the death of Alexander these Tracian mines gave Macedon $30,000,000 a year, and constituted part of the inconspicuous economic basis that underlay Alexander’s meteroic romance. History, said Renan, gives place only to the passionate and the ambitious. Philip made sure of his place by being both. He had learned the art of war under Epaminondas, the Theban leader whose military genius had put an end (at the battle of Leuetra, 371 B. C.). to the Spartan domination of Greece. Ranging his soldiers in solid phalanx fifty rows deep, and buttressing thpm with cavalry mounted on spirited Macedonian steeds, he drove them like wedges into the enemy's lines, and no army could resist him. Demosthenes pleaded with Athenians, in powerful vituperative oratory, to resist absorption by Philip; while Isocrates, In mild and perfect

(Andersan Herald) (Republican) In the spring of 1927 an investigation of school attendance and child labor was conducted in seven towns and cities of Indiana by the national child labor committee. In making public this report the committee states: “Seldom has the child labor committee in its many years of study and investigation found as satisfactory conditions of school attendance as were found in the Indiana towns recently studied. Few children under 16 years were out of school, either fo\* work or for any other reason. On the other hand, the study revealed a fairly large number of school children employed outside of school hours, frequently in violation of the legal requirements for work.” The towns and cities included in the study were Connersville, Crawfordsville, Brazil, Washington, Tell City, Cannelton, Goshen, Peru and Marion. In each of these towns two studies were made. First, the school enrollment was compared with the school census, and every child 14 to 18 years, who was not in school was visited. Second, each school room was visited, and all

civilized and fairly industrious hunters, fishers, guides and basket and curio makers. They do not seem to have much desire to improve their condition, but they are moral, sober, and law-abiding. The Micmacs are almost solidly Roman Catholic as a result of early efforts of French missionaries and their successors. Why is Connecticut called the Nutmeg State? The nickname refers to a tradition that unscrupulous traders from that State palmed off "wooden” nutmegs on their customers. What Is the difference between a game of chance and a speculation? A game of chance is one In which the element of luck is the controlling factor. When speculating a person takes a chance but also exercises judgment. One usually speculates in a thing in which he attempts to forecast what the results will be. In a game of pure chance the results are wholly fortuitous.

It Wont Be Long Now!

THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION

Written for The Times by Will Durant

prose, wrote essays advocating the unity of Greece under this new and masterful man from the north. Athens took the advice of the orator, fought Philip at Chaeronea (338 B. C.t, suffered defeat, and accepted without grace the Macedonian yoke. Isocrates liked Philip as Goethe liked Napoleon, because every philosopher pines for unity, and every scribe admires action. It might have been materially better for Greece to be ruled by Philip if Philip had not been, like Napoleon, something of a barbarian crude, cruel and drunk with power. In addition, Philip drank like Shakespeare and married like Solomon. One of his wives. Olympias, a half-savage Molossian princess, who had given him Alexander, grew jealous of the other wives, and to make sure that Philip would have no other heirs, connived at the assassination of the king (336) B. C.). . a a a QUDDENLY, therefore, at the age of twenty Alexander found himself ruler of Macedon and Greece. He was a wild youth, energetic and passionate, inheriting greatness from his father with a fondness for alcohol. For two years Aristotle tutored him, but even that glacial philosopher could not cool Alexander’s royal Are. When, on the lad’s accession, the Greek states revolted, presuming on his youth, he crushed them with one blow; and when Thebes rebelled again he burnt it to the ground. But he spared the house of the poet Pindar, and gave to all but

What Other Editors Think

children doing any work outside of school hours were interviewed. It is evident from the study that the compulsory school law is well enforced and is very effective. Nearly 97 per cent of the 14 and 15-year-old children were in school, and of the remainder the large majority were out for reasons that would make school attendance impossible. Os the 16 and 17-year-old (not under the compulsory attendance law) twothirds were in school. This good attendance showing is attributed to several factors—a good, reasonable and workable law; an efficient and interested staff of attendance officers with good State supervision; a general feeling cn the part of parents that children should go to school until they are 16-years old; and a school system that is being developed to meet the needs of various types of children. The old idea of compelling all children to take a prescribed cource of study that necessarily would tend to make them all fit into the same fixed grooves, is rapidly breaking down. The curriculum is elastic, and designed not anly to be interesting, but also to provide all children with useful and useable information. The attainment of the children Is measured not so much in terms of fixed standards, as by are able to do The amount of information necessary for the completion of a given grade is necessarily not the same for all children, for the simple reason that the abilities Os all children are not the same. The constant aim is to encourage, not discourage, the children. After accomplishing as much as they are able to accomplish, they are promoted. If they can do better in some lines of endeavor than in others, they are encouraged and helped in that direction. Furthermore, the “feeble-minded” myth has been largely dispelled. It is recognized that children by no means all have the ability or capacity for receiving training, but it is the aim of the school authorities to adjust the schools to meet the needs of the children. The theory that all children, at least until they are 16 years of age, should be under the guiding hand of the school, has been thoroughly accepted. The general conclusion of the report is that conditions in In-

Thebes a very liberal peace; all over Greece, in consequence, a powerful Macedonian party arose, which argued how well it would be for the Greeks to be forged into unity and led to new triumphs by so splendid and ferocious a king. The incompetence and corruption of the Athenian assembly had brought to Athens the same skepticism of popular sovereignty of politicians which is in the mood of our own time. Some sculptors* of that turbulent age have left us busts of Alexander, which make him out as handsome and dashing a conqueror as any girl could picture in her dreams. The young warrior did not care for those portrait* which tried to catch the beauty of his face an the melting look of his* eyes; he preferred Lysippus, who represented him in his leonine aspect, charging recklessly into the midst of the enemy, and dominating the world with a glance. See him in battle on the famous Alexander Sarcophagus at Constantinople, or on the great mosaic "Battle of Alexander and Darius” in the National Museum at Naples; he is a mere boy, dark, comely and recklessly brave in the very center of the fray he is on the verge of capturing Darius himself: he has all the fine animal verve of a youth splendidly endowed with spirit and impxlse, and not given much to that habit of thinking which Henry Adams considered to be a degradation of vital energy. (Copyripcht, 1927. by Will Durant) (To Be Continued)

diana are good, and that the people in charge of the work deserves commendation. There is room for improvement, however, and there should be a stricter enforcement of the child labor law.

WIAINIT HAVE.

The Rules 1. The idea cf letter golf is to change one word to another and do it in par, a given number of strokes. Thus, to change COW to HEN, in three strokes, COW, HOW, HEW, HEN. 2. You can change only one letter at a time. 3. You must have a complete word, of common usage, for each jump. Slang words and abbreviate-" '•’-.n’t ro”nt. 4. The order of letters cannot be Ci:

w|e|eTk W|E A K W E aTR Vi e a1 r.

What city was captured by soldiers hidden in a wooden horse? According to tradition, in the siege of Troy a wooden horse, filled with Grecian warriors played a prominent part. The Greeks pretended to abandon the siege and left the horse behind as a gift. The unsuspecting Trojans wheeled it into the city, whereupon the Greek soldiers sprang out and captured the city. Who was the ruler of Hanover, Germany in 1835? Until 1831, Hanover and Great Britain had the same sovereign. In 1825 George IV was Kidg.

JAN. 3, m

M. E. 1 TRACY SAYS: “Whatever May Be Said of Cha lies Darwin and His Theory, He Never Went Out of His Way to Make Life Miserable for a Human Being; Darwin Never Would Have Driven a Country School Teacher Out Two Days Before Christmas for Expressing an Opinion He Did Not Like”

Mustn’t say the naughty wordevolution—in Tennessee; mustn’t explain the meaning to a child who ran up against It in a college examination; mustn’t even admit it is in the dictionary. If you are skeptical, consider what happened to J. H. Tate the week before Christmas. He is a fundamentalist, a Sunday school superintendent, and has denounced evolution in the most ap* proved orthodox style, but all that was not enough to excuse him for the unpardonable sin of mentioning the word in a school room. Elizabeth Walker, a pupil in the country school where he taught asked him to explain the difference between evolution and revolution. She had been given this question in a mental test by the University of Tennessee, she said and wanted to know the answer. After defining revolution, Tate told her to look ip evolution in the dictionary. She did, and found it meant ‘"a process of development.” Tate illustrated by referring to the incandescent lamp which, he said, “was at first very crude and gave very little light, but from that first light has. developed the powerful searchlight which sends its beams for miles.” To make the point clearer, he told how higher types of animals had been obtained by breeding. u a * Two Girls Quit School Some of the children who had been nourished on the higher wisdow of back-yard gossip demurred at this. "Evolution,” 'declared one youthful savant, “means to come from monkeys.” Tate sought to enlighten them by explaining that a man named Darwin had written books on the theory that no one had ever claimed the theory was true, and that a man named William Jennings Bryan had offered SIOO to anyone who could prove it true. Evidently, more or less discussion occurred at this point, for Tate says he told the children that “anyone who did not believe in a process of self-development might as well take their books and leave school.” Two girls left, and that night their parents telephone Tate an explanation. The next day a. group of parents came to the school] to see him. They also called on the chairman of the school board. Th-r result was Tate's resignation to take effect immediately. a a Zeal as Cruelty Excuse The next Sunday was Christmas. It is to be hoped that Mr. Tate found it possible to retain seme of the spirit which goes with the day in spite of the way its lip observers had treated him. It is to be hoped that he forgave them in the same broad-minded manner with which the Nazarene forgave his persecutors. They are not the first professing Christians .who have made zeal an excuse for cruelty. Tate will not be biurned at the stake, or even pilloried for his heresy, but making allowance for the way civilization has softened punishment, he is a martyr to the same brand of narrowness which once hanged grandmothers and, broke children on the wheel. u n a Teacher of Kindness Whatever may be said of Charles Darwin and his theory, he never went out of his way to make life miserable for a human being even in the smallest respect. An invalid for the best part of his life, and taught the beauty of kind words and kind acts by bitter experience. he did what he could to make the lot of those around him a little easier. t. Whtever fundamentalists may think of the theory he expounded, or the weary years he toiled and studied before suggesting it, they could profit a great deal by examining his life and character. Darwin never would have driven a country school teacher out two days before Christmas for saying a word or expressing an opinion he did not like. tt U tt • Open-Minded Man When asked if he knew what e’v>’,-tion meant, one of the complainants against Tate said he did not and did not want to know, but what he did know was that he wanted none of it for his children. This is also a position Darwin never would have taken. When reminded of the attacks Christians were making on him, and asked what his attitude was toward them and their belief. Darwin replied that he had never studied the doctrines of Christianity tnoroughlv enough to speak with assurance, and that it was his conviction a man should not engage in a controversy over something with which he was unfamiliar. Darwin’s conclusions may be wrong with regard co the origin and development of species, but he did not jump at them through prejudice, nor did he bother much about the prejudice cf others. He was above all else an open-minded man, a tolerant man, a kindly manj The fundamentalists could throjJ | every book he wrote in the fire a still improve themselves by ing his example in this respect. However, he may have to study the Bible, Darwin neglect to study the book of and if God wrote one He wrote the other. MHkfcfi