Indianapolis Times, Volume 39, Number 211, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 January 1928 — Page 4

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JCHI PPJ-HOWA MO

Under the Shell Senator Watson, arriving today for long and serious conferences with his friends, announces that he wants the cooperation of “not only all loyal Republicans, but all friends of clean government.” The Senator sends word in advance of his purpose. He says that his interest is in his party and then he makes this most significant statement, “I expect to do everything I can to bring about such a condition as will restore confidence in its organization and in its leadeship.” That is something of an admission. It means that the Senator believes that the leadership and organization of his party no longer enjoy any confidence. It is a confession that the machine which sent him back for six years to the Senate is wrecked and discredited. The admission of 'the Senator makes it unanimous. He finally puts into wor<js what has been most apparent since Stephenson, from his prison cell, announced that he could prove vast political corruption. The “Black Boxes” have since disgorged. There have been indictments and convictions of those who stood high in this same organization and who held positions of leadership. No wonder the Senator wants to do something to “restore confidence” in an organization and leadership of his party. The truth is that it is Watson’s organization and his leaders who have lost confidence. If the Senator wants to alibi for himself, he should be frank enough to say he bai*gained with those who discredited his party and that the discredited leaders and discredited organization insisted upon the election of his colleague, Senator Arthur Robinson. The Senator ought to know and his friends should tell him if he fails to recognize the situation, that no three-shell artists can operate in Indiana this year. The people have been disillusioned and no confidence game of attracting attention from the sources of discredit can be worked. This very friendly warning is necessary because the surface indications point to just such a method of restoring confidence. The only tangible movement thus far is the scattering of petitions to put the name of Watson on the ballot in the primaries as a candidate for President. That is one of the oldest of political tricks. For no one, not even Watson, could believe that he has any serious idea that the Republicans of the Nation would select as its standard bearer the beneficiary of the organization and leadership which Watson admits is discredited. That has only one object. It is to keep the Republicans of the State from expressing their opinion concerning the real candidates for the office. It would permit Watson, if he can get away with it, to trade the influence of Indiana in the convention for such power as he might be able to obtain from managers of candidates. The ludicrous part of the situation is that the Senator is using an organization that he says is discredited to obtain signatures to his own petitions. It is always embarrassing to find a State chairman under indictment in the Federal Courts. That does not make for confidence. The Senator does not seem willing to permit his State committee to pick a successor. He looks in vain among its membership for someone to restore confidence among loyal Republicans. He has a hard job, unless he shows courage enough to advise his party to really reform and start the reformation by appealing to friends of clean government to select some other candidate for the Senate than the friend of George V. Coffin, also under indictment. Every county fair in other days had its slick operator of a little game called the “three shells.” That had its advantage. The people learned to watch for the pea. They will want to be very sure that they find the “new deal” under one of the three shells which the Senator is now operating. They want something more than the privilege of letting Watson trade the votes of Indiana in a Republican convention.

Why Not Try the Real Thing? The prediction by Senator Wesley Jones of Washington that the Senate will promptly enact legislation to have the Government resume the building of ships again directs attention to the knotty problem of a merchant marine. There seems to be an agreement in Congress and in the executive departments on only one thing: The country must have an adequate fleet of merchant ships, to serve as auxiliaries for the Navy, and to carry at least a part of our ocean commerce. The President, in his recent message to Congress, said, “it should be our policy to keep our present vessels in repair and dispose of them as rapidly as possible rather than undertake any new construction. Their operations is a burden on the national treasury for which we are not receiving sufficient benefits.” Jones, who is chairman of the commerce committee, and an administration Republican, thus appears at complete odds with the President on this important issue. Jones explains he has arrived at his conclusion reluctantly, after long study, because

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRirrS-UOYVARD NEWSPAPER) Owned and published dally (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos.. 214-220 W. Maryland Street. Indianapolis, Ind. Price In Marlon County. 2 cents —lO cents a , week; elsewhere. 3 cents—l 2 centra week. BOYD GURLEY. ROY W. HOWARD. PRANK O. MORRISON. Editor. President. Business Manager. PHONE—MAIN 3500. WEDNESDAY. JAN. 11, 1928. Member of United Press. Scrlpps-Howard Newspaper Alliance. Newspaper Enterprise Association. Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”— Dante.

he believes it is the only way the American flag can be kept on the seas. The legislation Jones proposes does not deal with the question of ship operation. Would the Government maintain the new ships it builds under shipping board control? Would it attempt to sell the new ships, along with the old ones, to private interests, or would it continue a system of operation through private companies, which has caused so much criticism in the past? These are questions that must be threshed out, in a Congress suspicious of Government in business. The Government spent three billions to build a fleet during war time, and in 1920 more than 40 per cent of our foreign trade was being carried in American bottoms. Some 2,500 vessels having a gross tonnage of 10,620,000 were in operation. This has dwindled steadily until last year there were only 1,305 vessels with a tonnage of 6,291,000 in ocean commerce. This occurred in the face of a declaration by Congress, in the merchant marine act of 1920, of the intention to maintain an adequate merchant marine, and to sell the vessels to private owners. An adequate merchant marine has not been maintained, nor have private owners evinced any great willingness to purchase the Government’s ships, although vessels which cost S2OO a ton to build may be had for as little as $5 or $lO a ton. In one instance a group of ships costing the Government $30,000,000 were sacrified for $4,500,000, the only stipulation being that they should remain in operation in their existing routes for a period of five years. The country apparently is confronted with the necessity of making a decision. Either it must sit by and permit the continued steady decline of the merchant marine, or there must be anew program adopted by Congress. There seems to be an agreement that a subsidy is undesirable, and that the public would not stand for it. Various indirect methods of subsidizing suggester would be apt to encounter the same objections. Nor car. it be expected that the Government will continue to build ships and then turn around and sacrifice them at 10 cents on the dollar, or less, and without adequate assurances that they will be kept continuously in operation. The alternative would seem to be real Government operation, and abandonment of the frantic efforts to unload the ships we now have on anyone who will take them. The only ships the Government itself directly operates—the five vessels of the United States lines—last year showed a profit. Shipping board losses last year were reduced to $12,000,000 for the entire fleet. The President himself said in his last message, “the United States Government fleet is transportating a large amount of freight and reducing its drain on the treasury,” The 1920 program is admittedly a failure. If we must have ships, why not give real Government Operation a trial? , Pensions for World War Veterans? Will this country within the next few years adopt a blanket pension system for the four and a half million men who wore uniforms during the World War? The w&r risk Insurance and compensation legislation, enacted when America entered the war, was designed to preclude this possibility. It was supposed to provide adequately for men injured in service, and for their dependents if they were killed. Now, however, sentiment in favor of World War pensions is beginning to appear, as evidenced by the bill offered by Senator Smith W. Brookhart of lowa, member of the banking and currency and military affaifs committees. Brookhart would advance veterans of the World War to the status of SpanishAmerican War pensioners, who get from S2O to $72 monthly. Spanish-American veterans would receive the same pensions as those now paid Civil War veterans, from $65 to S9O a month. Brookhart’s proposal, it is estimated, would cost $500,000,000 a year at the start, and would increase annually. The expenditure would be in addition to the $560,000,000 now spent each year by the veterans bureau, and the $230,000,000 paid out by the pension bureau. No one seriously believes Brookhart’s measure will become law, at this session, or soon. He announced, however, that he will keep fighting for it. The first general pension for Civil War veterans did not appear until 1890, and the first general pension for Spanish War veterans in 1920. Veterans point out that the original pension system was put into effect by George Washington, that there have been pensions after every war, and that the system is an accepted part of American tradition and practice. Pensions for wars have cost the United States seven and a half billions, leaving out of account some four billions spent by the veterans bureau. The greatest number of pensioners was on the rolls in 1905, forty years after the Civil War ended. If you have a penchant for figures, try to calculate what a blanket pension system for World War veterans might mean in future years. The figures are staggering, even though we have grown used to a Federal establishment*that spends four and a quartei billion dollars a year.

Miss Maude Royden, English woman preacher, has been barred from speaking in many places in this country because she smokes. Shame on Miss Royden for bringing that pernicious habit to this country! The person who depends on others is usually looking for an opportune time to importune.—Linton Citizen. If all speeders go there, the road to hell won’t be paved long.—Martinsville Reporter. The two principal causes of divorce are men and women.—New Albany Tribune. It’s easy to meet expenses; the trouble is dodging them.—Elwood Call Something else that doesn’t improve to any notable extent with use is a calendar.—Seymour Tribune. It’s getting so that children have a hard time making parents agree with them.—Goshen Democrat. Pick your friends and you will not have to worry about your enemies.—Hartford City Times. The difference between a trolley car and a sardine can is you can’t get another sardine In the can.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

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

(Abbreviations: A—ace: K—king; Q—queen; J—Jack; X—any card lower than 1. When fs a suit guarded in initial no-trumper’s hand? 2. First three hands pass. Fourth hand holds: Spades—A KXX X; Hearts—X; Diamonds J X X; Clubs—Q XXX. What is his bid? 3. Partner bids no-trump. When holding: Hearts—K QXX X; Diamonds—X XX; Spades—X XX; Clubs—X X, what do you bid? The Answers 1. When it contains any quick trick worth a half quick trick or Q X or J X X X or better. 2. Pass. 3. Two Hearts.

Mr. Fixit Repair of Electric Sign for Fall Creek, Capitol Ave., Promised by City Electrician; Clothes Appeal Received.

Let Mr. Fixit, The Times' representative at city hall, present your troubles to city officials. Write Mr. Fixit at The Times. Names and addresses which must be given will not be published. • An apostle of safe driving today requested Mr. Fixit to aid in improving the electric stop signal at Capitol Ave. and Fall Creek Blvd. Dear Mr. Fixit: Can you induce the traffic department of the Indianapolis police to improve the signal at Fall Creek Blvd. and Capitol Ave.? At present it is almost impossible to distinguish between the green and the red signal until one is very close to the crossing. Yours for safer driving, H. S. City Electrician William B. Griffis promised Mr. Fixit he would “do my best” to put the signal in good condition.” The safety board recently surveyed all electric signs with the view of replacing those which are run down. There is no fund from which repairs can be made. A bond issue to provide funds for new signals is considered. Dear Sir: Who should I appeal to for some very badly needed clothing for myself and six children? A MOTHER. Fixit gave your complaint to the Family Welfare Society which will send a social worker to visit you. A request for aid for a woman, out of work, who lives on N. East St., also was referred to the Family Welfare Society.

Questions and Answers

.. can get an answer to any ques- . on ~,? f 1 &C , 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. Why are young girls called “flappers?” A flapper is a young bird unable to rise in flight, especially a young wild duck. Hence, it is used in describing girls in the adolescent stage who are making their first forays into the world and experience. How can a man break himself of the habit of lying on his back when he sleeps? Try folding a large bathtowel and pinning it in the pajama coat where it will be the most uncomfortable when you lie on your back. The discomfort of the bulky towel will cause you to turn over. What Marquis of Queensberry patronized boxing? He was John Shelto Douglas, eighth Marquis of Queensberry (1844-1900) a representative peer for Scotland from 1872 to 1880. He was one of the founders of the Amateur Athletic Club in 1860. The Marquis of Queensberry rules, which have governed boxing matches all over the world for many years, were framed by the British peer and Arthur Chambers, who fought for the lightweight championship in 1872. The object of the Queensberry rules was to eliminate all unnecessary brutality which often occurred in fights under London prize ring rules, and to give men with science a chance.

JOHN J 1 j. , '■ ■ ' ./ , > . } > f ..—... - ) I \ Ml AIR IV.

The Rules 1. The idea of 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 on letter at a time. ft You must have a complete word, of common usage, for each jump. Slang words and abbreviations don’t count. 4. The order of letters can not be changed.

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Here’s Hoping Uncle Hits the Apple

Caesar Steps Upon the Roman Stage

CAESAR SECOND IN ROME CAESAR was born 100 B. C. by the operation which now-bears his name, for this reason, some say, he was called Caesar, and for this reason, perhaps, he suffered with epilepsy to the hour of his death. His mother, Aurelia, was a distinguished member of the patrician class; one of his uncles was Marius. At 18 he fell passionately in love with a girl who belonged to the Democratic, or agrarian, party that had survived the assassination of the Gracchi; he married with the precipitancy of genius; and. when Sulla, triumphant over Marius, ordered him to divorce his wife as an enemy of the Senate, Caesar refused. At once Sulla proscribed him, confiscating his property and the dowry of his wife. Caesar fled, and was captured; he bribed his captors, and escaped. Powerful members of the aristocracy pleaded for him until Sulla consented to let him live. "Take him, since you will have it so,” said the Dictator; “but I would have you know that the youth for whom you are so earnest will one day overthrow the aristocracy . . . In this young Caesar there are many Mariuses.” Alive and married, Caesar left for Rhodes to study under the famous teacher, Apollonius. His vessel was boarded by pirates, who held him for ransom. He raised the sum, gave it to them, and so secured his liberty. But hardly had his boat touched shore when he engaged sailors and

Portland Commercial (Independent) The statement is made that the State of Indiana may lose $65,000 of the $250,000 it had deposited in a Ku-Klux Klan bank at Kokomo. The fact that the State finance board would deposit a quarter of a million dollars in such a bank is in itself a matter for investigation. It may not have been a specific crime, but it was a case of gross favoritism and business carelessness that calls for the severest criticism. The $250,000 was more than the capital of that bank. Moreover, with all the banks there are in Indiana, there was no excuse for depositing $250,000 in a small bank in Kokomo owned and managed by political Ku-Klux associates of certain State officials. This is one of the things that has been the matter with Indiana. It is no wonder that the State is talked about, that it has lost its reputation for official probity. The Marion County grand jury has only skimmed the surface of official misconduct. All the contents of the Stephenson “black box” would make but a few pages in the black history of Indiana politics for the last few years. The Kokomo case is only one of hundreds equally bad, and that have gone unpunished and without any publicity. Those who have exceeded their official authority in Indiana should be grateful for the litfle publicity that has been given them, rather than crying about how much they are talked about. What is needed is more truth. Ft. Wayne News Sentinel (Republican) Those who would temper their commendation of Attorney General Gilliom for what they term a “belated” institution of suit to evict the Ku-Klux Klan from Indiana must have overlooked the difficulties which attended accumulation of evidence to warrant the ouster proceedings. The Klan was deeply entrenched behind ramparts of secrecy and, although there are numerous external evidences of its corruptive activities, the guaranties of the law for several years had to reckon with the individual rights of certain Klan leaders. When, by a concerted effort, it was possible to strike through its outer breastworks and lay its citadels under the heavy fire of justice, it will be remembered that Mr. Gilliom lost no time in following up each early gained advantage. His movement against the hooded cohorts has

THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION

Written for The Times by Will Durant

a ship, armed them and himself, pursued the pirates, overtook them, led his men in a hand-to-hand fight with them, recaptured the ransom, and never paused till every pirate was dead. Then he went on to Rhodes to study philosophy. Here was a man with the courage of Alexander and the ability of Napoleon; but capable of such controlled intelligence as Alexander never won, and mellowed with all the culture of his time such maturity and depth as could never come to Napoleon’s half-barbaric soul. He had left his young wife behind in Rome; there, in 78 B. C. she suddenly fell ill and died. Caesar returned to mourn and honor her memory; but a year later, thinking it better not to bum, he married again, more wisely but not so well, a rich girl named Pompilia. ana HE had by this time shed all theology; and rioting in the license of one whose moral code had lost its base, he made a name for himself as a young man of many sins, ‘the inevitable co-respondent in every fashionable divorce,” ‘the husband of all the women.” We cannot know if these tales are more than the slanders of his political enemies; if they are true, Caesar was clever enough to make their verification impossible. The aristocracy might have forgiven him his democratic politics, but not his popularity with their wives. One of these intimacies seems to have been carried on with Servilia,

What Other Editors Think

been closely bordering upon strategical perfection while lacking nothing in energy or enthusiasm to engage in aggressive battle. The Klan’s rapid dissolution in Indiana—as everywhere in evidence —is no mere accident. It has come as a result of an awakened public conscience allied with a concentrated and intensive purpose directed by men of Gilliom’s genius and sincerity. To all who have given of their talents in an assault upon the bastions of the bigots’ defenses we should be duly grateful. To the attorney general for his resolute continuance of the fight against the.forces of entrenched intolerance we pledge anew our hearty support and our complete approval. We think he has listed good cause against the enemy and we sincerely trust that his eagles may be crowned with victory. The fact that he will be resisted by formidable forces in his effort to make final riddance of this bad rubbish will but enhance the final glory of what we hope may be a quick and decisive triumph. ~ Kokomo Dispatch (Democratic) Is the time coming when the Government will daily undress the citizen, put up the windows of his bedroom, conduct him to his bed, tuck in his covers, hear his evening prayer, kiss him good-night and turn out the light? This is something a mother does, and government in this country is assuming many maternal functions. Bureaucracy and paternalism have become archaic. Matemalism is the order of the day at Washington. This is true in fact if not in profession. The care with which officials in pursuit of “*ig brother” .service to American business men, housekeepers and farmers disclaim any interition of being even paternal is proof of their consciousness of the true state of affairs. Mr. and Mrs. Farmer are among the chief objects of the tender ministrations of the Government. There are bureaus in the national capital telling the farmer how to farm and telling the farmer’s wife how to keep house. Business men, including exporters, manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers and others, receive pap in great gobs. Government poo-bahs continually tour the country in order to inject into them pep for foreign trade and

sister of a conservative statesman, Cato the Younger. Story told, in later days, that Brutus, who stabbed Caesar to death, was Servilia’s and Caesar's son; some accept while others reject the tale, but in general it is well to suspect biographers, who would turn all heroes into saints. More certain it is that Caesar’s wife believed these stories; apparently, she imitated him, and when her name was too publicly connected with that of Clodius, Caesar divorced her on the ground that Caesar’s wife must be "above suspicion.” Meanwhile, the last character in the drama had risen rapidly: Cnaeus Pompey—“a high-spirited ornamental youth,” as Froude calls him, “with soft. melting eyes, as good as he was beautiful, and so delightful to women that it was said they all longed to bite him.” When pirates were making the Mediterranean unsafe for Roman trade, and one commander after another, sent to destroy them, yielded to bribes (shared with the senate), and remained content with failure, Pompey, supported by a middle class that raged against the incompetence venality of the senate, went out and cleared the sea within three months. Then he sailed to Asia Minor, defeated Mithridates, who had rebelled against Rome, and came back laden with spoils and victories that doubled the revenue of Rome (67628 C.) All Italy looked upon him as the successor of Alexander. (To Be Continued) Copyright, 1927, by Will Durant.

common sense about domestic marketing. Nearly every one in the country is obtaining some alleged benefit from the service rendered. This ingratiatingly brings about anew attitude toward the Government on the part of the citizenry to correspond to the new attitude on the part of the Government. So accustomed are the people to having Government aid forced upon them that they are falling into the habit of expecting the Government to do everything but eat and sleep for them. (Linton Citizen) It Is a tragedy that many hundreds of men who have devoted their lives to an occupation cannot find work to do in the only line of employment they are accustomed to. While the condition of unemployment of coal miners is not so bad in the Linton field as it is in some adjacent fields and in parts of Ohio and Illinois, it is bad encugh. Linton is no more wholly dependent upon the coal industry, yet that industry built Linton nd maintained it for . years. Coal miners’ money, for the most part, built our good school houses, our paved streets, bought our light and water facilities, built and supported our churches. But it is not a local condition that brings about the present depression in coal mining activities here. It is more far-reaching than that. Yesterday it was stated—and we believe that there was no exaggeration—that there is yet enough unmined coal in the Linton field to keep every miner here employed for a long period of years. Speed the day when the men and the operators will be given an opportunity to produce it at a mutual profit. One noticeable thing since the slump in the coal business began to be felt is that sons of coal miners are no longer following the vocation of their fathers. They are seeking other lines of employment and endeavor and are making good. The business of coal mining is over-manned and over-financed and there must be a levelling before we can again expect any stability. What are the young of an elephant called? Calves.

_JAN. 11, 1928

M. E . TRACY SAYS: “You Can’t Have a Game Without Rules, Morality Without Standards or / Civilization Without Laws.”

Carlos Davila, ambassador from Chile is right not only in advocating stronger ties between South America and the United States, but in emphasizing public sentiment through enlarged cultural, educational and social intercourse as the best means by which to make them stronger. As he points out, our trade with South America has trebled during the last fifteen years, while our investments in South America have quadrupled. There is too much bookkeeping and too little acquaintance in the relationship. The commercial side of the picture has been allowed to obscure the human side. These two sections of the western hemisphere do not know each other as they should. Morrow, Lindbergh and Will Rogers have given us a vivid and convincing illustration of what can and ought to be done. nun 'Barnyard Marriage’ What Judge Lindsey advocates is a “barnyard marriage,” says Billy Sunday. The sixteenth century is where Billy Sunday lives and “he would be burning witches and heretics if he had his way,” retorts Judge Lindsey. So they got it—Modernist and Mossback—one arguing that whatever is old is wrong, while the other contends that whatever is new is wrong. Strange as it may seem, Henry Mencken takes the Sunday side, declaring that after thirty years of observation he is persuaded that the happiest marriages are those of the old-fashioned , conventional type, and that without the illusionment they represent, marriage can amount to little. n tt o Agrees With Mencken I am inclined to agree with Mencken. You can’t have a game without rules, morality without standards or civilization without laws. The idea of making people good and virtuous by removing rules so that they wont have any to break is a curious conception of human progress. tt a tt Our Merchant Marine No less than thirty big ship operators are meeting with the United States Shipping Board in Washington to see if a program cannot be devised to rehabilitate this country’s merchant marine. Ten to one you will stop and look for some more congenial item when you have read this far. Ships have ceased to interest the average American and that is what ails the situation. Seventy-five years ago the normal American boy wanted to be a sailor. Such men as Bob Waterman were his heroes. Today he wants to be a Lindbergh or a chauffeur. Speculation in real estate has made us a nation of landlubbers. We visualize prosperity as a matter of subdivisions, skyscrapers, hardsurfaced highways and automobiles. We forget that the difference between what we buy and sell has played an all-important part in our accumulation of wealth, and that this difference is bound up with foreign trade. We forget also that foreign trade depends largely on ships and that whoever owns them has a large say-so in determining not only where foreign trade goes but where the profit in it goes. b b Storm in Politics Much lull and some politics furnish a background for the storm which has broken out around sewer contracts in Queens County, New York. It was a Republican alderman who started the rumpus ancf it is a Democratic administration that will suffer if the rumpus proves real. Governor Smith was drawn Into the situation as a matter of course, but met it promptly and squarely by appointing Judge Townsend Scudder, who presided at the GraySnyder case, to conduct an investigation. The charges were that contracts had been let to a ring and that original bidders hafl sublet some of the work at a profit of as much as 50 per cent. No sooner had Judge Scudder named his assistants, summoned witnesses and arranged for hearings than the books of one contractor were stolen, while other contrac-v tors refused to appear. Now things are brought to a halt t)y an Injunction order which commands Judge Scuddei; to appear before one of his colleagues on the Supreme bench ar.d show. his authority to conduct the investigation. n n Need a Dan Moody It was a somewhat similar case that made Dan Moody Governor of Texas. While Attorney General of that State he discovered that the highway commission, which was dominated by James E. Ferguson, husband of the then Governor, had been letting contracts to a favored few; that a patented treatment haa been used to boost the price, and that some of the work had beer sublet at enormous profits. Moody wasted no time with hearings. He simply called the highwa: commissioners and contractors be fore him, told them what was wha' gained the cancellation of some con tracts by agreement, forced the can cellation of others by bringing sui 1 and saved the State a cool millio What New York seems to need an attorney general like Dan Mooc What Is the value of a Unit States nickel five-cent piece dat 1883 without the word “cents?" Five cents only.