Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 179, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 December 1928 — Page 4

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SCKIf> PS - MO H- Ajt J>

The People Own It One fact is made certain by the announcement of the trustees for the gas company. That is that the people really own all there is of the company beyond the bonds and preferred stock and the original investment of $2,000,000. The trustees announce that even if the people failed for any reason to take over actual title to the plant in 1930, the company would still be in control of the trustees, who would administer it in behalf of the city. "With the trustees recognising the rights of the city to ow nthe plant, the battle to really get it should be easier. Whatever opposition arises to the carrying out of the original agreement Avill come, of course, frora those who have bought the certificates at twice their face value. There is always danger when so great a prize may be gained. If this private group could win, they would have several millions of dollars as their reward for fighting public interest. If there is to be a court battle, and there will be one without question, it is well that the trustees of the company will be found fighting on the side of the city. In any battle between public interest and private greed, the people can not have too many defenders. The Vanishing Surplus Uncle Sam, for the first time in years, just about has reached the bottom of his purse, and there is danger that the government will not have money enough to pay its bills during Herbert Hoover’s first year in the White House. President Coolidge, in his recent budget message to congress, predicted a surplus of $37,000,000 for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Budget Director Lord six months earlier had said the government would wind up some $94,000,000 in the hole, but by some magic this danger had been averted. All bills would be paid, and there would be money in the bank—not much money, it is true, but there would be a balance on the right side of the ledger. Recent developments have altered this outlook. President Coolidge has asked congress to appropriate an additional $75,000,000 for repayment of income taxes erroneously collected by the internal revenue bill. An expenditure of $150,000,000 had been contemplated for this purpose, of which $130,000,000 had been appropriated. Hence about $55,000,000 additional must be voted, which converts the expected surplus into a deficit of about $18,000,000. Obviously, more magic is needed. Nor are prospects for the fiscal year of 1930 beginning July 1 any too rosy. President Coolidge warned that congress must practice the most rigid economy, since a surplus of only about $60,000,000 was in sight, which was too close for comfort. Already there are evidences that inroads will be made on this theoretical surplus. The house has approved a loan of $12,000,000 to Greece. The house appropriations committee has been warned that there will be a number of supplemental estimates, for which no allowance had been made, including $12,000,000 for public buildings. The budget bureau cut the allowance for tax refunds $15,000,000 under the amount that actually will be needed, and which later must be provided. The margin—if any—will be narrow. Prospects for a decrease in federal expenditures in the next few years are dim. Estimates in the 1930 budget exceed the amount actually appropriated for the current fiscal year by $95,000,000. The rate of increase is shown by the fact that estimated expenditures are more than $400,000,000 greater than they were in 1924, and in that time the public debt has been reduced so that $300,000,000 less interest is required. Congress is committed to expenditures of around 1,000,000,000 within the next few years, for which appropriations have not been made. The importance of this to the average citizen is that if current revenues do not meet expenses, new sources of revenue must be found. That means higher taxes. Expenditures of federal, state, and local governments already amount to-about $11,000,000,000 a year out of estimated earnings of $90,000,000,000. A Modern Carrie Nation Out in Kansas City the other day a woman took an ax and started out on a one-woman foray against her husband’s favorite speakeasy. This caused wide comment, because in that section of the country the exploits of Carrie Nation are well remembered. Carrie earned undying fame by her indiscriminate destruction of the bars in prohibition Kansas. (“The bars in prohibition Kansas.” Therels a phrase!) Many a Missouri barkeeper must have shuddered when he heard of the performance of Carrie’s modern imitator. Carrie may have been a bit cracked, as many believed, but it cah not be denied her campaign was highly effective. And there is ample field for endeavor of this sort in Kansas City, for W. Harold Lane, chief of federal prohibition agents, estimates there are more falsefront saloons now running than there were bars before prohibition. Lane said there probably are a thousand places selling booze. The municipal police officer in charge of liquor raiders termed the attempts at prohibition enforcement a joke. “A joke,” he added, “not because police are laying down on the job, but because there are loopholes in the law and loopholes in the prosecutions.” The federal prohibition administrator in that section has at his disposal 112 agents, who must try to keep both Missouri and Arkansas dry. Missouri contains the large cities of St. Louis and Kansas City, which never did like prohibition, and the Ozark mountains, whose inhabitants are reported to have the usual proclivities of mountaineers. The federal agents kept pretty busy last year, however. They arrested 2,703 persons in the two states and captured 385 stills in Missouri alone. They also seized some $325,000 worth of property from Missourians. Despite which, the business of purveying liquor still flourishes. Perhaps the solution lies in the formation of an ax brigade of Amazons.

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRUTS-HOWAKD NEWSPAPER) Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Timka 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, FRANK G. MORRISON, Editor. President. Business Manager. PHONE—RILEY 555 L MONDAY, DEC. 17, 1928. Member of Onited Press, Scripps Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

The Foreign Relations Committee There is still time. A few days is all that is needed for the senate to register the overwhelming mandate of the people by ratifying the Kellogg peace pact before Christmas. The treaty is clear and brief. It is easily understood. It has no secret riders. It simply joins the United States with fifty-nine other nations in renouncing war as an instrument of national policy. The President, the secretary of state and the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee have declared officially, for the benefit of the doubters, that the treaty means what it says and nothing more. Every one agrees that the country is almost unanimous in favor of immediate action. The ScrippsHoward popular poll is proving that beyond argument. There is no legitimate reason for the foreign relations committee to continue withholding this treaty from the senate, where it can be debated promptly and ratified quickly. For two weeks the committee has dawdled along , while the whole world waited. The American people are weary of this. They can not understand why the committee majority, favoring the treaty, delays in sending it to the senate floor. With only four days remaining before the senate Christmas recess, obviously the committee must report out the treaty immediately or destroy all chance of ratification this month. Here are the eighteen committee members: Borah, Johnson, Moses, McLean, Edge, Capper, Gillett, Reed of Pennsylvania, Fess, Swanson, Pittman, Robinson of Arkansas, Walsh of Montana, Reed of Missouri, Harrison, Bayard, George, Shipstead. What are they going to do about it? Reapportionment in Sight The house census committee at a meeting Tuesday is expected to report a reapportionment bill. Leaders say they will insist on its passage at this session. The measure would make reapportionment automatic after the 1930 census, on certification of the secretary of commerce if the house itself fails to act, as it has since 1921. The membership would remain at 435, as at present. Seventeen states will lose twentythree representatives, and eleven states will gain that number. California would gain six, Michigan four, and Ohio three. The decision to avoid an increase in size is wise, for the house even now is so large it is unwieldy. Were the present basis. maintained, it is estimated an increase of 100 members would be necessary after 1930. Duty of the house to carry out the mandate of the Constitution and provide for reapportionment is plain. There has been no reapportionment since 1911, and as a consequence some fourteen million persons are without fair representation. If the 1930 census is ignored, the number will be thirty millions. States which will lose representation, naturally will oppose legislation, as they have since the 1920 census. They should not be permitted to flout the Constitution and continue the present unfair situation. Mrs. Noah Beery, asking for a divorce, charges that the film villain was a villain at home, too. Now it wouldn’t even be surprising to find a clown who wasn’t always weeping off the stage. Scientists who are studying fish that live a mile below the ocean’s surface could find interesting subjects in the galleries of the Stock Exchange these days. Famous pets were exhibited on the roof of the Wal-dorf-Astoria in New York the other day. We didn’t see any mention of any of the Follies girls. Sixty peasants were executed in Russia for resisting tax collectors. We thought Russia had done away with the nefarious custom of paying taxes. The government has won two and lost four of the oil cases. Let’s see now—how many were sent to jail? New income tax figures show 283 paying income tax on $1,000,000 a year. A profit is not without honor in this country.

David Dietz on Science - Use Tower in Sun Study No. 235

VISITORS to the Mt. Wilson Observatory always are impressed by two great steel towers surmounted by small domes which form part of the observatory’s equipment. One tower is 75 feet high. The others is 150. The accompanying illustration shows the 150-foot tower. These are special telescopes known as the tower telescopes. They are used in studying the sun.

150-FOOT TOWER /*\ TELESCOPE JggjJ

of the sun is so Intense that an astronomer would blind himself unless he used special eyepieces to protect his eyes from the bright glare of the sun’s light. It is desirable, however, in studying the sun to get as large an image as possible. The size of the image furnished by a telescope depends upon the length of the telescope tube, or to state it more exactly, upon the focal length of the telescope’s mirror or lens. The 75-foot tower was built first. A small mirror was used to catch the image of the sun. This mirror, in turn, reflected it to a second one which reflected it down the long tube. The mirror had a focal length of 75 feet. Consequently a large image of the sun was formed at the bottom of the tube. 75 feet below the mirror. This tower worked so well that the second one, 150 feet high, was built. This also has proved a success. Asa result, more information has been gathered about the sun since these two towers wore built tb?n in all the preceding centuries. The towers have been copied jy other observatories. At the present time there is one in Italy and one in India. The towers are equipped with spectroscopic attachments, so that all sorts of studies can be carried out with them.

M. E. TRACY SAYS: “We Are Not Going to Reduce War Without Battle Any More Than We Have Reduced Murder Without Killing.”

T>IG navy men. which is something of a misnomer, since they are only asking for fifteen 10,000 ton cruisers, want the Kellogg pact side tracked until their pet measure has been passed. Such an attempt is small-minded and illogical. It creates an impression that the Kellogg pact and the naval program are antagonistic, that if we agree to outlaw war, we do not need to build more curisers, and that if we do build more, cruisers, agreeing to outlaw war is a piece of superflous hypocrisy. President Coolidge has indorsed both propositions, which should suggest that the problem involved is quite big enough for more than one idea at a time. The notion that a mere agreement to outlaw war ends the matter seems too silly for comment, who is going to keep it outlawed, and by what means? a u a Remember the Vigilantes We stand on the frontier with regard to international law. Our position is that of a comparatively new and unorganized community in the wilderness. The task before us is to substitute orderly justice Dora system of criminal bullying. It is identical with the task that pioneers have faced since the * dawn of creation. We need only refer to the settlement of our own west to discover the process. When the citizens of a mining camp decide to replace the rule of “bad men” by that of constituted authority, did they thro\V away their 455? When the vigilantes of San Francisco determined to stop the cutthroat rule of gamblers, thieves and mountebanks, did they begin by disarming? tt tt tt Orders —Not Appeals Striking a pose much like that of our big navy senators, the Bolivian government says that it wants peace and favors arbitration, but not until it hps time to trounce Paraguay. What the Pan-American conference should do is issue orders, instead of making appeals. It should warn both Bolivia and Paraguay that their dispute over the Gran Chaco is properly subject to arbitration; that the two governments solemnly have sworn to let it be settled that way; that war represents a breach of faith; that the western world will not stand for it and that if either or both governments persist, measures will be taken to compel respect not only for their treaty obligations, but for the duty they owe to keep peace. If the western world lacks the power or the courage to go that far, every one might just as well quit talking about the idea of preventing war. tt a a There Are Ways— There are plenty of means by which the Pan-American conference could enforce its will. It could arrange for a general embargo on exports and imports effecting both countries. It could do the same with reference to foreign loans, trade and financial transactionss. It could take the Gran Chaco away from both Bolivia and Paraguay and put it under a mandate form of government. Ruthless, you say? Certainly, but whither are we drifting, if not toward that very thing? > Have we found any way of preventing crime, or law violation without employing force and inflicting punishment? tt tt tt War to End War The comforting thought that there is nothing much to do in eliminating war, but make pleasant speephes and sign idealistic papers,’ is beautiful, but dumb. Before we get through with the job, we are not only going to write a code, but back it up in the same old-fashioned way that all codes have been written and backed up. We are not going to reduce war without battle any more than we have reduced murder without killing. For the first few centuries at least, any practical war prevention program may involve as much strife and bloodshed as would have occurred without it. The difference is that we would be struggling for an object that all humanity could visualize as worth while, instead of wasting 1 life and property, in futile attempts to grow great at each other's expense. a a a , Conflict Inevitable The most tragic aspect of all peace efforts thus far is an utter lack of realization of what they mean. The ideal is fairly born, but the conception of what will be required to give it practical force is still in the embryonic stage. We are not going to stop governments from taking what they have the strength to take, and what tradition has taught them to believe they have the right to take, without doing something more than talk. We are not going to persuade ambitious statesmen and tricky diplomats that we have scrapped their philosophy, without proving it by something more convincing than lip music. This chorus in favor of peace means battle, or it means nothing Such a revolution as it implies is impossible without conflict, just as free speech, religious liberty, the ballot and republican government were impossible. If the United States, or an/ other nation, does what will be necessary to institute that reign of law throughout the world which Woodrow Wilson visualized, it is going to need not only cruisers, but a good many other things with which to persuade criminally minded politicians and potentates that the demand is not an empty gesture.

The problem of the sun is quite different from the stars. The stars are so faint that in studying them, telescopes with very large lenses or mirrors are needed so that as much light as possible can be concentrated in the images. The sun presents quite the opposite problem. The light

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine. FOR years it has been understood by physicians that in matters, of medicine, at least, women are more credulous than men. Women make up the bulk of patronage for nostrums in the health field, for bogus psychologists and psychoanalysts and for faith healers of all sorts. In an endeavor to make a scientific study of the question numerous investigators have analyzed the responses of women under various conditions. Os course, there are many differences betwen the sexes from the mental point of view. Practically all investigators have found women in general superior to men in the matter of learning and using languages. Boys seem to be superior to girls in questions of mathematics, whereas women sem to be in general superior to men in memory. Boys

CONGRESSMAN KV AL E of Minnesota turns aside from the distribution of garden seeds to suggest that Mr.- Hoover's inaugural be free from all military display. Mr. Hoover should follow the congressman’s idea and have the following parade: Battalion of pacifists, carrying doves; group of peace-at-any-price advocates, turning the other cheek; delegation of nonresistants, constantly being knocked down and constantly rising to kiss the hc.nd that knocks them. The parade should not be led by a strong man, carrying the American flag, but by a cadaverous gent with a racking cough, carrying a large bunch of spinach. a a We are all glad the prince of Wales got back in time, for he and the king and queen are more than royalty; they are members of the human race. The king is as democratic as the British will let him be and the prince doesn’t begin to put cn half the airs of an American floorwalker. a o n There’s only one thing about the flu that’s commendable; it’s impossible for the “very best people’’ to play horse with it by the use cf money or influence. tt n tt Things look bad for the Christmas spirit, for the crisis between Bolivia and Paraguay, south of the equator is even more threatening than the crisis between Dr. Shumaker and Attorney General Gilliom, north of the equator. a tt u The lame ducks at Washington seem to be concentrating on the two vacanies on the bench of the court of custom appeals, which pay $12,500 a year and provide for retirement at full pay after ten years’ service. At this rate the ducks are coming much higher than turkeys. o a o Little wonder Washington is not offering to mediate the difference between Bolivia and Paraguay, for we sent a bunch down to arbitrate the Tacna-Arica dispute after the countries involved promised to abide by our decision, only to have them flout the decision and tie a can to our diplomats. a o tt Now that the government has accepted a design for completion of the Unknown Soldiers’ shrine at Arlington, it should devise a way to keep all vulgar publicity hounds from seeking to cash in the tomb. o a u All statesmen who desire to make after-dinner speeches about the fact that our long boundary line with Canada is unfortified and the Great Lakes free from fighting rraft, should hurry and get in their remarks, for if Canada persists in her colossal smuggling of booze int'> the United States you are going tc see gunboats on Lake Erie.

1

Women More Credulous, Say Doctors

Reason

Another Gift to the World

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE

and men on the average exceed women and girls in ability to manipulate mechanical contrivances. For years it has been understood that women are more likely to to intuition than are men and that they are likely to make judgments based on their personal situations rather than on abstract factors. In a study made of 267 boys and 290 girls in an American college. Conklin found that 40 per cent of the boys and 66 per cent of the girls had superstitions in which they really believed. Boys appeared to outgrow superstitions at earlier years than did girls, and girls had more superstitions per individual than did boys. Fifteen per cent of the girls and only 5 per cent of the boys indicated any belief in fortune telling. In a recent investigation made by Lehman and Witty, more than 6,000 children were asked to check from a list of 200 play activities those in which they had voluntarily engaged during the preceding week.

By Frederick LANDIS

TT is timely for Governor Kohler -*• of Wisconsin to urge business men to take an active interest in government, inasmuch as the only business men now paying any attention to it are those who desire to grab something off the altar.

fg?n wG^umt

BY FABYAN MATHEY Hearts are trumps and South has the lead. North and South must win four of the five tricks, against a perfect defense.

S—Nona H—A-5 D—None C—K-7-4 NORTH S—None . S—A-K H —3 2 H—Norn D —Q 5 5 D—A-6 O—J-9-6 C—lo SOUTH S—None H—J D—3 C—s-3-2

LAY out the cards on a table as shown in the diagram, and study the situation. See if you can find a method of play that will net North and South four tricks. The solution is printed herewith:

The Solution

THERE are some bridge players who never make use of the unblocking play. Yet there are numerous cases when it will net you from one to five or six tricks in a single hand. Here it is very essential to the correct solution. South leads his diamond, North trumping with the ace. North next leads his four of clubs. If East takes the tricks South trumps the return lead—no matter what it is —and North discards the seven of clubs. South then leads a club. North wins, and the five of trumps is high for the final trick. If West overtakes East’s ten of clubs at tthe second trick a trump return will be won by South and the clubs are then finessed through West.

One of the items in the list was telling fortunes or having fortunes told. It was found that girls participate in fortune telling activities more generally than do'boys, particularly between the ages of 12 to 15. With increase in maturity there is a decrease in participating in fortunetelling activities among boys but not among girls. Many psychologists have endeavored to explain why women are more credulous than men. It is suggested that part of this is due to the restrictions on women’s conduct, which are more severe than upon that of men and that the acceptance of superstitions offers a means of escape from reality. It has been asserted that women’s lack of physical prowess and their resultant dependence cause them to seek aid in supernatural ways. Regardless of the reason, the fact remains that women actually are more easy to convince and more ready to believe.

PARADE FOR HOOVER GLAD HE *GOT BACK tt m a DUCKS AND TURKEYS

IF Abraham Lincoln could have foreseen that in 1928 one of his letters would sell for $11,750, he would have provided for his posterity by engaging in a voluminous correspondence, instead of sitting in his Springfield office, talking politics with his partner, William Herndon. a u If the Argentine government Is pondering the artistic way to handle the reds who tried to blow ujJ Hoover’s train, we wish to suggest that there’s a perfectly exquisite informality about a shooting at sunrise.

But the seven of clubs can not be led to the second trick, because North will not then hold a tenace over West. And if the hearts are not unblocked by trumping with the ace at the first trick West will overtake East’s ten of clubs at the second trick. West then leads a trump and North is lost, since a second club trick must also go West. A club opening fails. If North plays low, East will win with the ten and return a diamond, and North and South must again lose a second club trick. If the king of clubs goes on the first trick the result is the same.

December 17 1778—British under Hamilton took Vincennes, Ind. 1807—Birthday of John Greenleaf Whittier, poet. 1860—Congress authorized war loan of $10,000,000. 1864—Sherman demanded surrender of Savannah, Ga.

Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.— Amos 5:23. a ts o MUSIC, of all the liberal arts, has the greatest influence over the passions, and is that to which the legislator ought to give the greatest encouragement.—Napoleon. What is the meaning of the names lago and lego? They are both Spanish forms of the Hebrew name Jacob, meaning a supplanter or a substitute. )

This Date in U. S. History

Daily Thought

DEO. 17,1028

Race Riddle Presented by Hospital

BY MRS. WALTER FERGUSON MEMPHIS is in the throes of a hospital controversy. Outsiders may not be interested gravely in her particular problem, but they should be gravely interested in hospitals and their management. While we are well, such institutions make very little impression upon us. It is only when one of the family is ill that the fact of their power overwhelms us. Every small town has its hospital these days and most of them are run by efficient men and women. Sometimes their operations are like miracles, and statistics tell us that hospital treatment brings about the recovery of the patient several days sooner than that of the average home can, though the best of doctors are in attendance. Competency of physicians and nurses seldom is questioned. The great problem to the average householder is how to acquire the necessary money to pay all these experts. I know a husband who has had a great deal of family illness, with a couple of operations for his wife thrown in for good measure. He is honest and conscientious, but earns only a small salai'y. He is grateful that his loved ones have been restored to health, but to pay for this he has had to mortgage his home and his earnings for years to come. And in his efforts to budget his wages so that his bills will all be paid in time, his doctor, being a kindly man, will wait, perhaps forever, for his fee. Because institutions always are more cold-blooded than men, it is always the hospital that gets first drag at the patient’s purse. The physician, who may be also a frend, waits until the grocer and the landlord have been paid. Although we know that we could not get along without hospitals, most of us have strong convictions that, save to the very rich, their rates are excessive. When we shall have finished with all the rest of our reforms, perhaps we can spend some time evolving a plan whereby the sick shall be taken care of by the state. Every good government owes that sort of service to its citizens. And when we grow wise enough to have done with wars and battleships, the sick, instead of those whom we have disabled with cannon shot and gases, will draw the pensions.

Questions and Answers

Vou can get an answer to any answerable question of fact or information by writing to Frederick M. Kerbv Question Editor The Indianapolis Times' Washington Bureau. 1322 New Vork Ave., Wahlngton D. C„ tncioslng 2 cents In stamps for reply. Medical and legal advice cannot be given, nor can extended research be made. All ether questions will receive a Dersonal reply, nslgncd requests cannot be answeiea. All letters are confidential You are cordially Invited to make use of this service. What are the causes of volcanic eruptions? There is still much obscurity regarding the causes of volcanic eruptions that permit the generation of steam within the earth’s interior, of its explosive escape through the “crust,” and of the formation of existence of the molten mass that reaches the surface su lava, or in its disrupted form as scoriae and ash. The accessible facts seem to point to the conclusion that the steam is released from the hydrated rocks of the earth's superficial mass, and its sudden evolution is due vo release from pressure oi the rock with which it is inbound, or to steady and increasing superheating. These conditions as well as that of the uplifting and out-throw of lava, might be supplied as the result of deep rock displacement, which, by squeezing, would bring the more highly heated deeper crust nearer to the surface, or to the critical point of dismemberment. And these displacements can readily be ascribed to vast sub-i sidence, notably of the sea bottom. What is the strength of the United States army and of the national guard? The act of congress making appropriations for the year ending June 30, 1928, contemplated an average enlisted strength of approximately 118,750 men in the regular army and 6,445 Philippine scouts. The strength of the national guard on June 30, 1927, was 181,142. How many Scandinavian languages are there? Three—-Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. Iceland is sometimes classed as a separate Scandinavian language, although basically it Is a Norwegian dialect. Is there a book called “Leatherface?” That is the title of a novel by Baroness Orczy. It Is a tale of “Old Flanders” and is published by George H. Doran, New York. What is the meaning of the name Von Lentz? It is a common German family name meaning “of the land.” How old were Leopold and Loeb when they were convicted of the crime of murdering Bobby Franks? Leopold was 18 and Loeb was 19. What part did Arthur Housmaa play in “The Singing Fool?” That of “Blackie Joe.” What does A. D. before a date stand for? “Anno Domini.” meaning “In tho yeer of our Lord.” To what country does Persia belong? It Is an independent sovereign state. How many rounds did it take for Jack Dempsey to knock out Georges Carpentier in the Jersey City fight in July, 1921? Four rounds. When did Prof. William James die? In 1910. Did A1 Jolson ever have a son? NO. '