Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 186, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 December 1928 — Page 4

PAGE 4

SCRI PP s - HowA AD

A Plain Bargain While the city administration, the trustees of the Gas company, and civic organizations unite in the belief that the city has a right to that property under the plain terms of the franchise, they also assume that the people will be compelled to fight in the courts in order to obtain possession. It would be hard to conceive of a plainer bargain than was made twenty-three years ago. If there is anything to the theory that courts and laws are intended to preserve the sacredness of contracts, it, is difficult to imagine any legal points that could long be maintained in any court. Os course, the company which was started as a public necessity by public spirited citizens, has now become most valuable. Under private ownership, it could be made to pay dividends on many millions of dollars which are not now represented by any stock certificates. Private owners would have no difficulty in obtaining authority from the securities commission to issue to themselves millions of dollars worth of stock, which they could sell on the market. The physical value of the plant and its earnings at the present rates would give to any group able to obtain control, these millions of dollars. Tire history of the company and the terms of the franchise should preclude any danger of such a burden being fastened upon the people. Under the franchise, the city was to have the right at the end of twenty-five years, to take over the plant and operate it and own it. Under the franchise those who invested in the stock were to receive 10 per cent each year as interest, a very high rate, and the face value of the stock which is $25 a share—and nothing more. The high rate of interest was an offset against any increase in value of the stock. So well understood was the idea that this utility belonged to the people that it was recognized by placing all the stock in the hands of trustees who elect the directors. At the start and all during the history of the company, no stockholder attempted to assert any ownership in his stock, except the right of his interest. No one has attempted to assert that he could vote his own stock for a director of the company. There is every reason to believe that very many of the original stockholders ar# willing to deliver their stock to the city according to the agreement. They should be given that opportunity. The fight against the city will be made by those who have speculated in this stock on the theory that by some legal device they and not the people can obtain the control of the company. There will be a campaign to poison public sentiment against public ownership. That is inevitable. But the real purpose will not to be prevent public ownership but to get those millions. It must be kept in mind that the people of this city have really earned those extra millions of value. They have paid them into the plant in the form of rate",. The extensions have come from the earnings of the company, not from new dollars of stockholders. As to the manner in which the city may exercise its ownership and control there can be an honest division of opinion. Every one agrees that it is important that the utility be kept out of partisan polititcs and not operated as an infirmary for broken down politicians. If it were possible to continue the present board of trustees, who have apparently made a success of their management, that might work to the best interests of the city. But it is certain that the people, if they retain an interest in the ownership of this utility, will have ingenuity enough to devise some sort of non-political management which will be effective. Smaller cities have not found it difficult. One of the nearby cities this year built an $85,000 public swimming pool from the profits of its electric light plant. Public ownership in that city has not been a failure and it will not be a failure in this city if the people show a continuing interest in its operation. The question of the machinery for operation should be the only one for public discussion. The contract is so plain a bargain that the people should resent an effort on the part of any one to even suggest that this valuable plant, built by their dollars under a specific agreement, does not now belong to them. Accepting “Prohibition” The Anti-Saloon League circulates from its propaganda headquarters across the street from the United States Capitol a speech by Thomas N. Carver of Harvard university, which that eminent political scientist designates “an appeal to the press, especially to those editors who do not favor prohibition.” The learned doctor argues that the recent election, if not in fact a referendum on the liquor question, at least proved that the people are determined to retain prohibition. “Why not acquiesce?” he asks. “Why not be good sports? “Don't aid and abet those who actively are breaking a law which your government is actively trying to enforce.” Then this rather remarkable statement appears: “There is only one honorable choice before you—that is between insurrection and acquiescence.” Therein the doctor falls into the error so common among the prohibition zealots. He seems unable to realize that an editor or any other person may be opposed to and critical of the so-called prohibition now existing without aiding and abetting the law violators. He tags the prohibition critic “nullificationist” and asserts that expression of opinion is resistance to the government. And worse, by ‘acquiescence” his speech indicates he means that we should blind ourselves to conditions as they exist, the prevalence of drinking the crime and corruption that have grown up in the wake of Volsteadism, the confessed failure of the government to make prohibition really effective, and the wholesale violation of civil rights by government agents. “Don’t villify enforcement officers who are trying to do what the law requires them to do and what they have sworn to do,” Dr. Carver urges. Therefore the murder of an innocent citizen peacefully going about his business by two Coast Guardsman must not be deplored. Nor the shooting to death of a farmer by a band of dry agents who invaded his land warrant after

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRIPPS-HOWARIi NEWSPAPER) Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The IndianapoH-, Times Publishing Cos., 214-220 \V. Maryland Street, Indianapolis, Ind. Price in Marlon County 2 cents—lo cents a week; elsewhere, 3 cents—l 2 cents a week. BOYD GURLEY, ROY W. FRANK G. MORRISON, Editor. President. Business Manager. PHONE—RILEY 5551. TUESDAY. DEC. 35, 1023. ' 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.”

they had been warned off. Accept this and applaud or you are a nullificationist. If you believe and comment on the assertion o! Prohibition Commissioner James M. Doran that il would require $300,0C0,000 a year and a vast system of federal courts for the federal government to enforce prohibition, you are an insurrectionist. If you comment on the fact that probably $25,000,000 worth of liquor will be smuggled from Canada this year, and that the traffic is growing, you are an enemy of good government. And so with the fact that the Coast Guard, althouh spending $15,000,000 a year, confesses inability to end smuggling: so with the fact that 78,000 liquor cases were handled in the federal courts last year, and that the number constantly increases; so with the fact that it is estimated on government data that 188,000 stills were operating in the country last year: so with the fact that federal agents arrested 87,000 persons last year and that more violators constantly are being detected: so with the fact that alcoholism is becoming more common and that health is being jeopardized through drinking; so with the fact that state and local officials are not co-operating in enforcement, as federal officials testify: so with the fact that violence and corruption in Chicago, Philadelphia and elsewhere, are traceable to the liquor traffic. Instances might be indefinitely multiplied. Dr. Carver’s arguments are unsound. A person might ardently believe that genuine prohibition would be the best thing that could happen to the country, and still be honest enough to face conditions as they are. He would not be resisting his government. If he believes that present conditions are intolerable, that they are in fact, undermining all government, lie does not become a “nullificationist” because he joins in a search for a solution of the problem, which is the gravest one confronting the country. The Christmas Spirit Christmas may be, after all, a task—for us elders —a chastening of the spirit. If it is loving your neighbor—and that is said to have something to do with Christianity—the job is not so easy. And if the order includes your relatives and most-hated friends, it is a call on real determination. For the children it is a season of surprises. The younger the children, the more successful the surprises. But even children grow knowing, and a bit cynical, and it is a big Job to shield them from bitter disappointments. Santa seldom brings what they really want. No doubt it is good for the soul to have the pocketbook pried open for something besides the household bills and the life insurance premium. Many of us would not know what the markets had in the way of pretties if it were not for the shopping festival, when custom decrees that we must get out and look. And there are no figures in the financial reports showing bankruptcy produced by Christmas shopping. But the main benefit must be to the individual soul. To get out and do a hard duty well is fitting one for the Kingdom of God. And that must be in the Christmas spirit. President Coolidge has asked congress for fifteen new cruisers. You can’t tell when we’ll have a hurryup call for good-will envoys. Among the most valuable tips of the day to stock speculators is the advice furnished by Isaac Newton. A man saved from a burning building in New York wrote to his rescuer a poem of thanks. Experience is a great teacher. Chiang Kai-shek, president of China, promises that if he doesn’t abrogate some of China’s unequal treaties within three years they may cut off his head. But he probably thinks there isn’t a Chinaman’s chance of that.

David Dietz on Science

Laboratory Aids Study

THE proposed 200-inch telescope of the California Institute of Technology, which will stand on some Pacific coast mountain top, will only be one-third of the astronomical equipment of tl# institute. Another third wall consist of auxiliary apparatus on the mountain top. And the remaining third will consist of an astrophysical laboratory on the campus of the institute in Pasadena. The Mt. Wilson observatory is organized on a similar plan. The 100-inch telescope at Mt. Wilson, the world’s largest telescope, is just one of the instruments in the observatory. It is supplemented by many special pieces of apparatus. In addition, the observatory maintains a large laboratory and a machine shop in Pasadena.

scope for almost a year. He had spent that year with a measuring microscope, measuring the exact position of lines in the spectrum of the sun. The newest branch of astronomy is called astrophysics because it is a combination of astronomy and physics. The spectroscope constitutes the tie between the two fields of science. The spectroscope contains prisms which divide the light of the sun or stars into little rainbows called spectra. These are marked with little black lines. Experiments have shown that these lines change with conditions of temperatures, pressure, electrical potential and other factors. Consequently, the astronomer can solve the problems of the physical conditions of stars by trying various experiments with glowing gases and comparing their spectra with the spectra of stars. But the experiment works both ways. For not only is physics furnishing an answer to the problems of astronomy, but the astronomers are now coming to the rescue of physicists, explaining from the stars many things which have puzzled the physicists. The new observatory of the California Institute of Technology will carry on the work. It will not duplicate the Mt. Wilson researchers, but will supplement the work of +his famous observatory. . •

No. 242

One usually thinks of an astronomer as a man in an observatory, sitting with his eye glued to the telescope. However, Dr. Charles E. St. John of the Mt. Wilslon observatory, president of the solar section of the International Astronomical Union, once told me that he had not looked through a tele-

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. TRACY SAYS: “South America's Progress Still Is Retarded by Influences of Native Population,”

■\I7AR scares, Hoover’s trip, in- ’ ’ creased trade and, above all else, the modern publicity system, have tended to create keener interest in South America. We are beginning to learn something about that continent and its people. It is high time. We have a lot in common with South America. We j shall have more as time goes on. Geography and politics have combine dto separate the New World from the Old. In spite of racial difference all people of the New World have been trained to a different understanding of government and its relations. In the first place they have been liberated from those traditions of pride, prejudice and provincialism which play such an important part in determining the attitude of older countries. In the second place the task of reclaiming and cultivating a wilderness has taught them to think in terms of change and originality. With one notable “rception the j people of the New World established republics when tney acquired independence, and that, too, notwithstanding the fact that the Old I World remained largely monarchiai a a a Ahead of North America THOUGH discovered one year afterward, South America was settled nearly 100 years before , North America. While our an- ; cestors were still content to catch j codfish off the New England coast, Spanish conquerors were sending home shiploads of gold and silver from Peru. Buenos Aires was founded by Mendoza in 1533, or seventy-four years before Jamestown was established and eightyseven pyears before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Vice regal governments had been set up in South America, palaces had been built, cathedrals erected and universities established before any English-speaking community had proved it could maintain itself in what is now the United States. The contrast revealed by such facts can be traceable to two great differences. In the first place, the native population of South America was not only much larger than that of North America, but had made vastly more progress. In the second, the Spaniards came to conquer and exploit, while our ancestors came to settle. The predominating English idea was to develop anew empire. The predominating Spanish klea was to create dependencies. There was more exterminating in North America and more looting in South America. tt e tt , Cleared of Natives WITH the exception of Mexico and Central America, which should be identified with South America so far as discovery and development are concerned, North America practically has been cleared of its native population, and to all intents and purposes is the product of immigration. South America, on the other hand, still is subject to the influences and traditions of native stock. Probably one-half of the people now living there are Indians, while at least a quarter are cross-breeds. This admixture, while according with our ideals of humanity, has tended to retard progress. South American countries have found it difficult to keep the native population under control, much lew; to civilize it. Vast areas of that continent still are in a primitive state. In some countries one-half the people still speak native tongues while illiteracy runs as high as 80 per cent. There are cities as modern, clean and well-governed as any of ours but back of them there are jungles, unexplored regions, and native communities with which we have nothing to compare. 8 8 8 Much Remains to Be Done BOLIVIA, a nation of more than two million people, has only 2,000 automobile and 1,500 telephones, yet the Spaniards are said to have taken more than two billion dollars in gold and silver from the Bolivian mines, and the country now supplies the world with about one-half its tin. Brazil, which is about as large as the United States and -which is just as productive, has less than one-tenth of the railroad mileage. South American, as a whole, possesses almost as much water power as North America, but has developed less than one-twentieth as much. Such facts are interesting not. because they show how much has been done in North America, but because they indicate how much remains to be done in South America. South America is a land of opportunity, Its productivity and resources have scarcely been tapped. Acre for acre, it more than equals North America in fertility of soil, favorable climate and mineral resources. Brazil is said to contain onefourth the world’s known iron supply. The Amazon, Orinoco and Paraguay basins are probably unsurpassed in crop-producing power. Measured by what has been accomplished in Europe, South America should be capable of supporting a population of at least 500,000,000 people. We have enough of the latter to help. Immigration and the natural growth of population can be depended on to supply the former. The bigger and richer South America becomes, the better it will be for us. We need raw material and South America needs machinery. It is not only legitimate, but wise for our manufacturers and financiers to take an interest in its development, to establish branch houses and promote trade. More Americans should visit South America. They could not only find much to interest them, but, perhap| learn a thing or two.

f 7 ■//>

Climate Plays Part in Defeat of T. B. ’

Thls is the first of an Important series of three articles on tuberculosis, its relation to climate and the treatment of the disease. BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hvgeia. the Health Magazine. IT is generally recognized that while it is possible for a person to recover from tuberculosis in almost any climate, climatic factors nevertheless play a considerable part in the speed of the recovery.’ In considering climate one is concerned not only with temperature and humidity, but also with wind, dust, and storms, with rain, the character of the soil, the sunshine and many other factors. Heat or cold in great excess are dangerous to health and may be fatal to life. The effects of temperature on the body are dependent to a great degree on humidity. Warm, moist climates are generally believed to have a depressing effect. Cold, dry air is stimulating, but, as pointed out by Dr. James A. Miller, demands a capacity for response from the individual.

Reason

✓CHRISTMAS belongs primarily to childhood and to old age.. To children It is the day for which all the year was made. All that is good in make-believe join hancs with all that is good in life to give to little folks the keenest joy between the cradle and the grave. 8 8 8 The conqueror’s triumphal entrance into vanquished cities is naught beside that early morning hush when children troop down to Fancy’s kingdom, dimly lighted with its tinseled tree, bending beneath its wealth of toys, its stockings, bulging with wondrous fulfillment of their desires. 8 8 8 To old age it is the summit from which anished days are seed, days long buried in the west, and vanished faces, the faces of those long gone to other stars. 8 8 8 But the lonely sands of age are washed by the happy tumult of life’s onrushing tide; the w'eary traveler must cast aside his staff and marvel at his grandchild’s candy cane. The rainbow hour blots out old times and loneliness must put on bells and simulate the joy that others feel. 8 8 8 Other days may bo great, but this day is wiicily good; other days may belong to history, but this belongs to humanity, for it is equally fine in palace and in hut. This day exalts the heart and puts the crown of kindliness high above Ambition’s boast. 8 8 8 On this one day strife is an awkward player beside the ruddy-faced, white-bearded King of Joy, and all the Caesars, wrapped in imperial robes are vulgar trash beside the simple life and garb of Him whose sacrifice is the priceless hope of countless lives. 8 8 8 On this day called Christmas we are most nearly civilized, and as children cling to the withering tree until its last green spear has turned to brown, so should our world cling to the Christmas philosophy until it sweetens all the year. 8 8 8 The spirit of Christmas should venture forth upon the battlefield of life. It should make the edge of chance less keen, the abyss of woe less deep, the awful extremes of human fortune less wide, the spirit of society less impersonal, the demands of social and industrial justice less ignored.

It’s All for You

-CLIMATE AND TUBERCULOSIS—XO. 1

I If the body is not able to respond j properly to cold, dry air, as is the I case with persons; who have been ; greatly weakened by long continued illness or by old age, the effects of cold, dry air may be harmful. Excessive moisture has a relaxing effect which may predispose to infection. The movement of the air materially influences the temperature and the humidity. If the air is hot and moist, movement of the air will aid in elimination of heat. If the air is very cold, there will be an increased demand for heat produced from the body. If the air is both moist and cold, conditions are extremely uncomfortable, and may be harmful In selecting a climate for the invalid, Dr. Miller suggests that there is no one best climate for tuberculosis. In other words, proper treatment under scientific conditions is more important than climate alone. Some types of patients never should be moved in search of climate. This includes patients who

By Frederick LANDIS

And it should do another thing It should warn all those involved in futile, fanciful theological discussion to bear in mind thftt a* comforters of mankind, as ministers of religion, theirs is the responsibility of safeguarding that faith by w’hicli this world has reached its present place. u a u Last and most important is the wish that this Christmas spirit might linger among the contending

gggggjjgtgiit

BY FAYBAN MATHEY Hearts are (rumps, and South lias the lead. North and South must win three of the five tricks, against a perfect defense. S—None H—Q-10-8 P—None C—7 NORTH s*—None S—None H—7-4-2 j , H-A-9-6 D—Non® j 2 D—None C—J C—A SOUTH S—B H—J D—A-l C—None LAY out the cards on a table as shown in the diagram, and study the situation. See if you car. find a method of play that will give North and South three tricks. The solution is printed herewith.

The Solution

THIS puzzle sets a good example of keeping out of trouble, no matter how hard your opponents may try to get you into it. South leads his trump. North discarding a club. South next leads his- three of clubs—and then the trouble begins if North is not very careful. West plays the ace on South's

are severely 111 in the early stages of the disease or in the late stage of the disease. In such cases, complete rest in bed either at home or in an institution in the home city is the first step in treatment, and should be continued until the patient is able to travel without risk. Not long ago the United States government through the public health service protested against the shipping of patients to certain states when such patients did not have the means to provide for the necessities of life after their travel. The cost of invalid care almost anywhere is from $25 to SSO per week. Therefore, at least $1,200 to SI,BOO per year must be available for the care of the invalid if he is to go to any health resort. When the burden of providing for one’s self in a strange land is added to those of the disease itself the invalid has a handicap to overcome which may result in the difference between life and death. Good food and lodging are just as necessary

lIAD CHRIST DONE 8 8 8 NOTHING MORE THAN 8 8 8 GIVE US CHRISTMAS

followers of the Cross and end their turmoil. The Crusader never bore the infidel greater wrath than these brothers of a common household have borne each other! 8 8 8 Nowhere down the endless star - lit street of the infinite can be found a folly half so great as for man to lift his hand against his neighbor because they disagree about what lies beyond the impenetrable veil. Nothing do we know, except that it is better to be tolerant and just, yet little as this is. it is enough to end the folly and the fury of the world. 8 8 8 Had He whom we call Chris'; done nothing more than give us Christmas, He still would towej high above all others who have lived.

club lead, and North rises to the occasion by discarding his ace of diamonds. On West's ensuing play of the king of diamonds. South throws away his useless spade. Now West’s minor tenace in clubs must be led to South’s major tenace. If North fails to discard his ace of diamonds on the second trick West will lead a diamond to North at the third trick. Then East’s spade will have something to say, and North will be regretfully silent. If West plays low on South’s club lead at the second trick, East wins with the jack. But this time East’s spades will not be quite so Important. A spade or a club opening will mean sure death.

This Date in U. S. History

December 25 1942—Columbus’ ship. “Santa Maria," was WTecked. 1776—Washington crossed the Delaware with 2,400 men amid floating ice. 1868—President Johnson issued amnesty to Confederates, including Jefferson Davis. How are water marks made on paper? By shaping the wires of the dandy-roili (gauze-wire cylinders) over which the paper passes as pulp. / j

DEC. 25, 1928

IT SEEMS TOME a 8 By lIEYWOOD BROUN

Idea* and opinion* expressed In thl* column are ,tho*e of one of America’* most interesting writer* end are presented without regard to their agreement with tb* editorial attitude of this paper. The Editor.

DRAMATIC critics have a favorable phrase which runs, “But it isn’t a play.” I've used it many times myself, but now that my reviewing days are over I might as

well admit that I don’t know exactly what it means. There's no ready definition for a play. I rather think that anything that actors do upon a stage before an audience is a play. "It isn’t a play” may mean that the critic was not entertained. Or it may mean that he was

nm a

puzzled as to fitting the performance into some particular pigeon hole. Ethel Barrymore’s new play is in mind. The love interest is brief. The heroine marries no one. And there is no suggestion of a villain. Perhaps that is what some of the critics meant when they said, “But it isn’t a play.” 8 8 8 Dissent IWANT to register lively dissent. Play or not, "The Kingdom of God” stirred me more than anyj thing I have seen in the theater i for these many seasons. I cannot | but concur in the general opinion that Ethel Barrymore was brilliant. I Still it annoys me a little to hear my old associates talking about her charm, nas it, but it seems to | me a sm„il p&rt of her gift. Certainly I never thought about I Miss Barrymore’s charm during the I progress of “The Kingdom of God.” From the first curtain until the last I cried copiously. Much higher tributes could be paid to performance because I am an easy weeper. Accordingly, I much prefer to see Miss Barrymore in a play such as “The Kingdom of God” than in any of the* lighter pieces in which she has scored some of her great successes. Never in my life have I seen Miss Barrymore do anything which seemed to me pretty good. As far as I'm concerned she acts as Luis Firpo fights. Either she swings and misses me completely or there is a fearful thud and I am last seen going through the ropes. That’s where I went last night and as yet I have not been able to crawl back upon my feet. One may exaggerate a little under the spell of a performance recently seen, but unless my memory plays me tricks Miss Barrymore’s Sister Gracia is the most moving piece of acting I have ever seen in the theater. ana Best in Last Act MOST of all I was moved by Miss Barrymore in the last act when she appeared as an old lady of 70. In this episode, she contributed an extraordinary trick—although it is rather more than that. Asa girl of 19, and later a woman of 29. the actress has taken pafins to employ a different voice, but the full depth of the Barrymore contralto has been saved for the act In which Sister Gracia is 70. But there is a truth deeper than mere realistic fidelity. Miss Barrymore's role in the Sierra play is that of a girl who seeks the Kingdom of God with somewhat faltering steps in the beginning. There are times when it is not easy for her to continue in a life devoted to renunciation. But at 70 she has solved her problem. Her head is high as she draws closer to the Kingdom. One or two have spoken of the new Sierra play as dealing with a dormant subject. That seems a curious attitude to me. I can understand many points of view in regard to God from lively faith to complete disbelief, but I don’t quit* get the notion of being bored with God. Even to the irreligious, religion can well be one of the most fascinating subjects of speculation. I do not happen to believe at all in the philosophy of renunciation which animated the life of Sister Gracia. tt tt tt Debt of Gratitude A DEBT of gratitude I owe to Ethel Barrymore which has never been repaid. Asa young baseball reporter on the Tribune, this was some years ago, I was suddenly elevated to the post of dramatic critic. Somebody reported sick. One of the first places I reviewed was “Our Mrs. Marhesney,” a dramatization of the Edna Ferber stories. I liked neither the play nor tho star and node that report. In ar interview on the following Sunday Miss Barrymore said, “All the critics liked me but one who I understand is a baseball reporter. Os course I have a great deal cf respect for our national game but after all there is a good deal of difference between the diamond and the drama, is there not?” i Collier’s Weekly carried an editorial in which it said that baseball reporters in America were much better writers than dramatic critics and that if plays were handled In the same way as games, American journalism would be better off. A woman's club invited me to eat a luncheon and make a speech. It. was my first touch of fame. Os course it didn’t last. But I'm afraid it will be impossible for me to get into any controversy with Miss Barrymore about "The Kigdom of God.” If she feels that she is appearing in a play which is deeply felt and finely wrought she is quite right. Also I hope she thinks that this is the best achievement in a long career. If she doesn't one of us is crazy. (Copyright, 1928. tor Thf Tl/*M) "