Indianapolis Times, Volume 39, Number 238, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 February 1928 — Page 4

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SCn.IPP3-HOWA.MO

A Free-For-All 1£ Senators Willis and Watson of Ohio and Indiana are really serious contenders for the Republican nomination, the best way to prove their serious intentions is to go into other States than their own and put up candidates for delegates. There is no good reason why Willis, for example shouldn’t go into California, which happens to be Hoover’s State, and into Indiana, New York, Kansas and all other States where there is a fight on; and there is no good reason why Watson, Curtis or any other favorite son shouldn’t do the same thing. Willis and Watson have a perfect right to put up delegates in California. Undoubtedly, Hoover would recognize that right and claim no right for himself to bar California Repub* licans from voting for any candidate they want to support. If favorite sons keep out of all States but their own they give reason to suspect that they are banking on securing the nomination through some deal between various State bosses—some midnight bedroom conference. The fair way, and the honest way, is to give rank and file Republicans full opportunity to make their will articulate; and the contests won’t hurt the chances of the nominee when election day rolls around. On the contrary, a vigorous contest in- all States between all candidates ought to be decidedly beneficial by way of stirring up interest of voters. Certainly it will help avert a boss-controlled convention and a nomination made for the selfish benefit of the bosses and the big campaign contributors. By all means let the favorite sons go into the other States and demonstrate their popularity with rank and file Republicans. Let Willis and Watson in particular go into California.

Europe and the Kellogg Pacts Late dispatches from Europe still contain no word of any old world rivers being set on fire by Secretary of State Kelloggs moves in the direction of international peace by means of his arbitration treaties. In fact, it would seem that in so far as the Tiber, the Thames and the Seine are concerned, there are indications that fairly large sized chunks of frozen dampness continue to drift under the brides, despite the draft pacts now being sent out of Washington with their non-binding preambles denouncing war. “The day when America feels the need of carrying dollar civilization into another Central American requblic by an advance detachment of maries,” says 11 Tevere of Rome, “that day this condemnation ol' war will appear more than insipid. It will appear hypocritical.” Even the friendly Sir Austen Chamberlain, British foreign minister and latest to be offered one of the treaties, does not seem precisely to bubble over with enthusiasm. To the contrary, when he came to tell the House of Commons about it, to judge by the cabled reports of correspondents, he handled the subject very much like an unenthusiastic angler removes from his hook a cold and clammy fish. Sir Susten did not seem to care much for the new reservations, which, he said, had been inserted in the place of those in the old Root-Bryee pact. They puzzled him and they puzzled the British government. They might broaden the scope of the present arbitration treaty between the two countries, but, on the other hand, they might narrow the scope. He would have to study the hing and see it would do. The draft treaty sent to London—as it will go to Tokio and, no doubt, to the capitals of all the nations with which this country has expiring arbitration treaties—was similar to that signed by France and the United States in Washington this week, and which already has been published. One of the British foreign secretary's worries seems to be just what role the Senate will play if and when Britain and the United States ever come to the point of arbitrating a dispute. Like the pact which it Is framed to replace, the new treaty calls for two steps. First, the two countries agree to arbitrate as per the terms of the treaty. Second, in each and every instance, as the case arises. The two governments must reach a special agreement as to precisely what the dispute is and just what steps are to be taken to arbitrate it, detail by detail, r This agreement is to be entered into by the President of the United Sates, by and with the consent of the Senate. Which, Sir Austen apparently thinks, and not entirely without reason, makes the whole shebang terribly vague. About all the present treaty does is to agree to the principle of arbitration. The real, the important, decisions are left for the future and the chance complexion of the then existing Senate, to decide. When our former brilliant Secretary of State, John Hay, started negotiating the treaties which the Kellogg drafts are to supplant, President Roosevelt was bitterly opposed to this very ambiguity. He junked eleven such treaties, even after they had been signed because, he said, the Senate’s reservations merely made a treaty swearing to make another treaty, if and when. Three years later, however, after Elihu Root had succeeded Hay, the treaties were renegotiated, with the word “agreement” where “treaty” had been. So today the Kellogg arbitration treaties are only agreements to undertake other agreements sme time m the future and in a manner agreeable to the Unltd States Senate. And Sir Austen, doubtless thinking about what the Senate did with the treaty of Versailles, the t*prld Court, and othe* such projects, can’t help wondering. ' '

The-Indianapolis Times (A SCIUFPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) Owned and published daily (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, PRANK O MORRISON, Editor. President. Business Manager. PHONE—MAIN 3500. SATURDAY. FEB. 11, 1928. Member of United Press, Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance. Newspaper Enterprise Association, Newspaper Information Service and Audit Eureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”— Dante.

Congress’ Plain Duty The duty of Congress to protect labor against unrcasohable injunctions that, in times of industrial disputes, make criminal deeds of ordinary and peaceful acts, has been put squarely up to Congress. It was put there by Senator Shipstead, Minnesota, author of the Shipstead bill to curb the abuse of drastic injunctions against labor—such as the writ issued in Pennsylvania which prohibited the United Mine Workers from giving food and shelter to the cold and hungry women and children of striking miners. Shipstead did not attempt to assail unfair and unmerciful judges who wantonly abuse their authority and crush labor for the benefit of capital. Instead, he showed that Congress has been negligent in exercising its power to regulate the courts, to define their limitations and say how far they can go in labor disputes. He showed that the courts are floundering in a sea of conflicting precedents and trying to make decisions by these precedents. He showed that in one labor injunction case, the United States Supreme Court itself was divided five to four; that the majority justices cited fiftyeight Supreme Court decisions in support of their contention and that the dissenting justices cited 204 decisions of various tribunals in support of their contention. This state of affairs in matters that affect the liberties of millions of American workers must be changed. Clrealy, some clarification of the law affecting labor is needed and apparently the remedy that Senator Shipstead offers is a just and equitable one. Senators Shouldn’t Fool Themselves There can be little question that the investigation into the power question, proposed by Senator Walsh of Montana, should be made. More than a majority of the members of the Senate agree that it should be made. But a certain number of them argue that it should be made by the Federal Trade Commission, rather than by a special committee of the Senate. Surely the Senate has no delusions concerning the manner of investigation that can be expected from the Federal Trade Commission, as now constituted. An investigation by this body would be no investigation. The power interests know this. The power interests want the investigation made by the Federal Trade Commission. Next week the Senate will vote on the question. No Senator should fool himself into trunking that a vote to turn this vitally important job over to the Federal Trade Commission is a vote in favor of the needed investigation. No Senator should think that a vote to send it to the Federal Commission null give him a clear record in this matter. It won t.

Costes and Lebrix The big hand which the people of the United States have given France's world-girdling airmen, Lieut. Dieudonne Costes and Lieutenant Commander Joseph Lebrix, has been earned ten times over. Not merely because of the sentimental attachment which most Americans feel for the French, nor yet because we now have a chance to pay France back in her own coin for her magnificent reception of Lindbergh and our other ocean-hopping fliers, but, strictly on merit, these daring pilots have a tremendous welcome coming to them. All the way from Paris to Dakar, French West Africa; across the South Atlantic to Brazil; thence to Argentina and back northward across the equator; from one end of Latin-America to the other and on to Washington and New York these men have blazed a trail which is bound to go down in history as one of the greatest air exploits of the times. Theirs was no mere stunt. What they have done adds vastly to the science of flying. It brings perceptibly closer the day when nations will all be linked, and t.lie seas will be criss-crossed by air, the air lanes which will make Europe, Asia and Africa close neighbors. Welcome, Costes and Lebrix, and good luck. Justice in the Coal Fields Observe in this issue of The Times a cartoon by Talburt, depicting the plight of the coal miners and the coal operators. If Talburt is right—and we think he is—both operators and miners are in a bad situation. It is not only the miner that Is suffering from the present state of affairs in the coal industry. It is evident that, as an economic problem, the coal situation is a baffling one. But that doesn't mean that the same can be said of another phase of the situation. Asa problem in the administration of justice, the case in the coal fields is one that can be improved vastly. Blanket injunctions that prevent practically every normal human activity of miners—even the attendance of church; the giving of authority to employes of the coal companies to act as law officers—the notorious coal and iron police; turning, in short, all the power of the local government into the scales in behalf of one side of what, at the very least, is a two-sided controversy; these things conflict violently with the American conception of justice. They present a state of affairs that can not continue. The investigation proposed by Senator Hiram Johnson will take up these phases of the coal war. Out of the evidence obtained Congress should find a way to assure justice to the coal miners. A Way Out for the Farmer Where are America’s fanners heading? Toward anew prosperity—or toward peasantry? Speakers at the meeting of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation seemed worried over the farmer's outlook. Prof. W. E. Dodd of the University of Chicago was pessimistic, asserting that neither the farmer nor his friends “seem able to check the downward drift of agriculture.” Not so gloomy was L. B. Palmer, president of the federation. The farmer, he asserted, "must become well versed on all basic problems, not only of production but of marketing, purchasing, legislation and home and community development.” In this way, he predicted, the farmer could win anew prosperity. We’re inclined to think his view is the right one. The farmer has a rather tough row to hoe, to be sure; but there seems little reason to suppose that industry, scientific management and careful planning will not sec him through it.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. TRACY SAYS: “Very Little Has Occurred in the Power Industry', the Problem at Present Is to Forestall Abytses, Rather Than to Remedy Them.”

New York faces the prospect of the greatest light and power merger on record. Seven companies furnishing gas and electricity for the city, Long Island and Westchester County are involved. Their combined assets amount to more than one billion dollars. If consolidated, they would represent the greatest utility combine in America with one exception. That exception is the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Thus far, the merger is but a matter of rumor and gossip, but it so definitely is in line with the prevailing drift that its probability generally is accepted. MOM Era of Mergers Since the close of the war, merger and consolidation have dominated the light and power industry. Hundreds and hundreds of *mail concerns have been absorbed by larger ones. Holding companies have been formed in various sections. Capital has been pooled on an unprecedented scale. Demands for gas and electricity, especially the latter, has caused the public to forget all other aspects of the situation. Towns and districts have been too enthusiastic over the erection of power plants and the opportunity of industrial development they offer to consider other effects. It is the railroad era over again. bub Same Old Human Nature Sixty years ago the country embraced railroad builders in the same whole-hearted manner, giving them land, offering them bonuses and buying their stock without question. Twenty years later it woke up to find itself in a morass of politics, graft and watered capital. The same thing can happen with regard to light and power. While big business is more decent than it has been at any time in this nation's history, and while its leaders are showing a real regard for public interest, human nature has not changed very much. Given the old set up or anything like it and the same old abuses will reappear. BUB Walsh’s Power Probe Very little has occurred in the power industry to warrant alarm. The problem at present is to forestall abuses, rather than to remedy them. At present, the nation is embarking on what is perhaps the greatest economic venture of its career without realizing existing conditions, much less what they portend. The immediate task is to examine* those conditions. That is why sucli a power probe as Senator Walsh proposes is desirable.

Basis of Industry The light and power industry controls what is essential to modern life. To a measurable extent, it is the basis of modern industry. Not only the great manufacturing enterprises of the age, but the vast cities that have been built and the social order that has developed as a consequence are dependent upon it. In an economic sense, the light and power industry promises to exercise functions which approach those of Government. Because the home, factory and workshop can hardly exist without its products, its monthly bills amount to little less than tax levies. Those controlling such a mechanism hold within their hands a dangerous degree of authority. The public has a right not only to know who they are and what they intend, but to take such measures for the protection of its own interests as past experience and common sense suggest. Clear It All Up No one can tell what policy the Nation or the States ought to pursue toward the light and power industry until it thoroughly has been studied. At present we are dealing with little more than prejudices and suspicions. The formulation of an intelligent program simply is impossible under such circumstances. Even Congress and the State Legislatures have only a vague conception of what they are up against. The atmosphere is filled with gossip and speculation of a disturbing character. There are continual assertions of a powerful and insidious lobby, not only at Washington, but at various State capitals, or powerful influences brought to bear In this or that section, of mergers and consolidations, of strategic moves to block the Government, or purchases of rights and privileges along important rivers, and subsidiary corporations formed in such a way that they can be milked by holding companies. The sooner the whole situation is cleared up the better it will be for all concerned. Did the people of the District of Columbia ever have the right of suffrage? Suffrage in the district was abolished in 1874 by Congress. The reasons were varied, but they grew out of conditions prior to 1874 when the Governor practically defied Congress by increasing debt and taxation and building municipal improveemnts. It was held that as the constitution gave Congress “exclusive jurisdiction” over the District of Columbia, and as the territorial form of government had, in the judgment of Congress, proved a failure, the whole control of the district should be taken over by Congress alone. The of the territorial form was also made the occasion for abolishing all suffrage in the district.

THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION Rome Passes Into Christian Age Written for The Times by Will Durant

So perhaps the wheel of every i civilization comes full turn: at first the advent of a vigorous and primitive people, hungry for fertile soil, and glad to husband it; the rise of a State financed by the products, and defended by the owners of the land. Then came growth of wealth and the inevitable differentiation of strong and weak, of fortunate and unfortunate, or rich and poor; the i exploitation of agriculture by industry, and of industry by commerce. and of commerce by finance. Then came engrossment of the j fields by wealthy men. and the sub- ' stitution of tenants, or serfs, or slaves for an owning peasantry; the listless and wasteless tillage that soon exhausts the soil; the dependence upon imported food and j foreign trade; the imperialistic ; necessity for controlling foreign I markets and foreign fields. Then came war. and power, and glory; then suddenly, defeat by some stronger incorporated beast; the loss of markets, industries, and wealth: the decay of cities and the arts; the advent of a vigorously and primitive people, hungry for fertile soil, and glad to husband it. Is this the cycle of history? Here certainly is the road by which Rome fell; let other nations profit by it. No single cause ever exhausts the meaning of even the simplest events: judge, then, how many factors must \ have entered into the fall of this ! Colossus of nations. As Rome exported not only goods, but, for her imported grain and fineries, her supply of precious metal soon ran dry; when the mines of Spain and Sicily failed, she neared bankruptcy: :and as early as 220 A. D. Heliogabalus, in the midst of wealth and luxury, repudiated the national debt. n n a Marcus aurelius sold his i crown jewels to pay his troops. But when jewels were valued more than troops, the soldiers took matters into their own hands; law relapsed into force, judgment into violence: and no later emperor was strong enough to reweave the loosened threads of order into that social stability and security which I Is so vital to the economic life. Trade languished, investment ceased, employment fell and prices ! rose: poverty, the great enemy of civilization, crept like a slow pa- j ralysis through every organ of the j State. The bonds of political power and j

HlA'felD' T~A fK 1 E.

The Rules

1. The idea of letter golf is to change one word to another and do it in par. or 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. 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 change.

G | OIOID M O Q|D~ M o>|o S M OIW S N E. V 5

Both in the Same Boat

commercial exchange which had united distant regions under one rule, weakened and snapped. The great empire fell into hostile halves, and spent in civil strife the resources that might have stemmed the barbarian tide. For the surrounding hordes, seeing their prey at last helpless before them, grew in resolution and audacity. Pushed by the inundating Huns and ether refuges from dessicated Asia, the Germans found their way down into Greece, and plundered Athens, the center and refuge of the surviving culture of the world. n tt a DRUNK with pillage and victory they swept over mountains and seas into Gaul wild Spain and distant Africa; cverywhare they ravaged ancient cities with fire and sword, and laughed as they put the torch to splendid edifices built, there by Roman architects and engineers. No Roman army could stop them; when the Emperor Valena tried to halt them at Adrianople in 378 A. D. his own army was composed of Germans almost as completely as that of the invaders. He was ignominiously defeated, and when the news of his disaster crept across the Empire every adult mind understood that this was the beginning of the end. In 410 Alaric and the West Goths captured and sacked Rome; in 420 the Vandals conquered Spain and Africa; in 451 it was the Germans who, uniting for a moment with the Romans, turned back Attila and the Huns at Chalons. At last in 476 the barbarian general Odoacer peacefully deposed the last of the emperors of western Empire. pitifully named Romulus Augustulus. The Germans were masters of Rome. But meanwhile anew and subtle power had established itself in the heart of the capital; not an army ncr a government, but a faith; powerless in all the goods of the world.

GROWTH 1921 $29,281,610.92 1923 $33,373,130.91 < 1925 $41,320,993.09 1927 $45,&82,845.2S

but strengthened with hope and confidence so intense that when the power of the Empire fell into pieces it was the leader of this unarmed and ill-clad host that drew the shreds of order together. He restored the authority of the ancient city, tamed the savagery of the barbarians, and preserved some measure of classic letters and arts as a heritage of culture for a rebarbarized and rejuvenated world. In 321 A. D. Constantine, one of the greatest of the emperors, accepted the new religion and unconsciously bequeathed to its leaders his precarious imperial power. In 452, when Atilla and his Huns stood at the gates of the city, Leo the Great, not Emperor, but Pope, went out and dissuaded him from attacking Rome. The Empire had passed into the Papacy, and anew age had begun. (Copvrtght. 1928. by Will Durant) (In his next article Dr. Durant will tell of the life of Christ.) (To Be Continued!

Questions and Answers

You can get an answer to any answerable question ot (act or information by writing to Frederick M. Kerby, Question Editor. The Indianapolis Times. Washington Bureau, 1322 New York Ave.. Washington. D. C.. enclosing two cents in stamps for reply. Medical and legal advice cannot be given, nor can extended research be made. All other questions will receive a personal reply. Unsigned requests cannot be answered. All leters are confidential. You are cordiallv invited to make use of this free service as often as you please. EDITOR. Arc tomatoes fruits or vegetables? They are the fruit of their vines but are cultivated as vegetables. How old must one be before he can join the Marine Corps, and what is the period of enlistment? Eighteen years is the minimum age. The first two months of the recruit's time are given to the study and practice of the regular duties

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.FEB. 11, 192S

BRIDGE ME ANOTHER (Copyright. 1928. by The Ready Relcrence Publishing Company) BY W. W. WENTWORTH

(Abbreviations: A—ace; K—king; Q—queen; J —jack; X—any card lower than 10.) 1. When you hold A J 9 X in hand and dummy holds Q, X X X, how many possible tricks may be made? 2. What two axioms are the basis of sound bridge? 3. When you hold A X X in dummy and Q JlO in declarer * hand, how do you finesse? The Answers 1/ Four. 2. Bridge is a partnership game. Bridge is a game of information. 3. Lead Q from player’s hand and finesse if not covered.

Times Readers Voice Views

The name and address of the author must accompany every contribution, but on request will not be published. Letters not exceeding 200 words wIU receive preference. To the Editor: We now are told the Republican committee is back of the "Slack ouster movement" of the city council. Who is playing politics? We had a mayor who was indicted, found guilty and unfit to hold office. We have a city council, six members of which have been indicted, and which is a disgrace to the city. Mr. Holmes is a dyed-in-the-wool politician, a member of the Duvall-Coffin-majority faction council clique, and if allowed to take office we will have the same rotten condition we all were so disgusted with in the Duvall administration. According to The Indianapolis News, it seems an unpardonable sin to be a Democrat, for that is all the fault they have found with Mayor Slack. The News evidently thinks there are no Democrats capable of filling public offices or positions. Changes made by Mr. Slack were made for the purpose of improving public service, and no doubt, if in- ! eestigations were made it would be found that the majority of those removed were not filling their positions in an efficient manner. There must be loyalty and cooperation in every business, if it is to be successful. I believe about 75 per cent of the city employes are Republicans. For ten or eleven years the Republicans have monopolized city jobs. Is it playing politics to have a few Democrats on the pay roll? If Mr. Slack is playing politics, he at least is playing clean politics. Mr. Slack is a respected, honorable citizen. Why not encourage, support and work with him for a good clean business administration? It is up to the civic societies and other business and social organizations to back Mr. Slack, if they really want good government, Otherwise, we Kill have a continua ion of the disgraceful condition we 'are trving to remedy. AN INTERESTED CITIZEN. What is the address of the American Society of Naturalists? 431 Highland Rd., Ann Arbor, Mich.

of a soldier. At the end of this period the recruit becomes a fullfledged Marine, ready to go everywhere end do anything that is required of a Marine. The enlistment is for four years. What is the record for the Boston Marathon race? The distance of the Boston Marathon is twenty-six miles 385 yards. The record is 2 hours 25 minutes 45 2-5 seconds, made by John C. Miles of Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, in 1926. What poem contains the line, “Thou still unravished bride of quietness?” It is the first line of Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn.”