Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 213, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 January 1929 — Page 4

PAGE 4

The Indianapolis Times (A SCKU’I'.V 11 0 H AKI) NEWNPArEK) Owned and published dally (except Sunday) by Tbe 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 cents a week. BOYD GURLEY BOY W FRANK O. MORRISON. Editor Prealdent. Business Manager. PHONE— HIt.EV 8651. THURSDAY. JAN. 24, 1939. Member of United Press, Scrlpps Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Newspaper Information Berrlce and Aadit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

—-v-—~ S e Jt I - H OW AMO

Suspicious, at Least When members of the legislature from Marion county decide that they, in an official capacity, will investigate the condition of the gas mains, and mess around generally before they will vote for laws which attorneys for the city think are necessary, they only invite suspicion to themselves. The time has passed for members of the legislature to act as guardians for the people of this city in a matter on which public opinion is well settled. For any member to interpose objection to the city taking over the plant of that company, under its contract on any argument that it is a bad bargain for ;he city, is merely to mark himself as a man whose actions will be worth watching. The people of this city have made up their minds that they are entitled to the benefits of a contract under which the company has collected money for the last twenty-three years. That contract provides for municipal ownership of this util ty at a price fixed years ago. The city is asking for the passage of two laws, not drafted with any idea of asking for favors from the legislature, but merely for the purpose of creating the proper machinery for the operation of the plant after it is acquired by the city. For any member of the legislature to believe that he was elected to prevent this city from making a bad bargain is a mistake.^ If the city buys a goldbrick, the legislature is not to blame. It was elected to make laws, not- to act as keeper for children or morons. The decision to make an inquiry looks bad, Especially as it is well known that very greedy and selfish forces are now at work to keep that plant in the hands of private interests. If the legislators are in any doubt as to the value of the plant, they have only to look at the records of sale of stock certificates just before it became very certain that the city administration and the trustees of the company were united in their purpose to deliver the plant to the city under its franchise. These certificates, which will be redeemed at $25 a share, were sold as high as $56. just on the chance that some court would decide that the franchise is invalid and that the stockholders can move in and take it over. That high price was paid on a pure gamble. If there had been any certainty that the stock would eventually represent ownership, it would probably have sold at SIOO a share. In the face of such a situation, any movement that means delay for these proposed laws can only be construed as an effort to aid those gamblers and speculators who arc now fighting, under cover, to grab this utility. Whether, they know it or not, legislators who act for delay are merely serving these interests.

A Signal of Sympathy Avery little thing often means a great deal, if you look at it properly. In a little Ohio town near Toledo lives an 18-year-old boy who has been an invalid for several years. His parents’ house is near the New York Central railroad tracks, and one of the lad’s diversions is watching the big limited passenger trains go speeding by. One day, about a year ago, an engineer saw the boy’s cot on the sun porch and inquired about him when he reached the town’s station. Learning that the boy was kept to his bed by illness, the engineer decided to do a little something to cheer him up. So, thereafter, eve-y night when his train passed the boy’s house, the engineer would blow his w’histle four times. The boy quickly discovered that this signal was a greeting to him, and he responded by blinking the light in his bedroom four times. That has kept up for a year now. Every night that the engineer speeds by he sounds his signal, and the boy responds by flashing his light. If the boy is feeling wDrse than usual, and has to drop off to sleep earlier in the evening, he sets his alarm clock so that he will awaken in time co hear and respond to the greeting. On Christmas the engineer aent the boy a little present. And a few days later, on his day off, he went to the little town and called on him, promising to have all the other engineers on that section of the line toot their whistles for the sick lad when they passed his house.'" Now all of this, while interesting and a little bit touching, may not seem especially important. But it is, just the same. Study it aright and you will get a great deal of encouragement and hope out of it. There is a good deal of misery of one kind and another in this world. Sickness, poverty, failure and disappointment touch every one of us at one time or another. They’re pretty hard to live through, sometimes; but the worst thing of all is the feeling of loneliness that so often accompanies them. We are so constituted that we can stand almost anything except toe feeling that the rest of the world is shut off irom us by barriers of indifference and misunderstanding. There are times when the moat important thing on earth is an unmistakable hint that kindness and thoughtfulness still exist in a world of strangers. That is why the simple, kindly act of this locomotive engineer is worth reading about What he did wasn’t much, perhaps—but it meant a great deal to that bed-ridden youngster, lonely and depressed. And, though the rest cf us never heard of either of these two people before, 1* can mean a good deal to us. too. Xt Is Just one more demonstration that kindness and tee willingness to help someone else to a little happiness aren't so uncommon as we often think.

The Big Grab That behind the well-greased program to increase the gasoline tax or license fees for automobiles to take away five or six more millions of dollars every year from the people, is a purpose to enrich the material men, becomes more and more apparent. Owners of trucking fleets and delivery systems understand that the attack is leveled against their interests. They have investigated the necessity for the hasty building program and discover that under revenues as now collected the state could build 2,400 more miles of cement roads in the next seven years. The good roads movement started years ago. It is a fine movement. The federal government gives aid. And roads are being built rapidly in every state. Whether the roads as now being constructed are the best that could be built is a question. Some built as recently as five years ago are now discovered to be faulty. They require repairs, although such roads should last for at least one generation. Many are discovered to be too narrow. The practice of putting the heaviest part of the cement on the crown, instead of on the edges, where the traffic is greatest, was only very recently abandoned. But even if it were granted that the roads are the very best, the legislature owes it to the people to investigate the highway commission and its alliances before it hands over the stupendous sum of more than twenty millions of dollars every year. It is just possible that it would be discovered that the state could save a lot of money by owning and operating its own cement plant and its own quarries. Very soon the problem of work in prisons will become a real problem. If the road material can be produced by prison labor, perhaps the money now furnished would build all the roads that are either needed or dreamed of. The first step in consideration of the bill to grab millions should be a most complete survey of the situation, including a real investigation of the highway department. What’s a Few Million Dollars? That grand manner in which congress is willing to spend the people’s money is very impressive. But taxpayers are apt to-miss the joke when the generosity goes too far. * Take those citizens who stayed at home from the movies last night to struggle with the newly arrived federal income tax blanks. How happy they must have been over yesterday's newspaper headlines: “Federal deficit estimated at $375,000,000.” "Senate appropriates $24,000,000 more for prohibition enforcement.” But what’s a few million dollars to the professional drys, so long as it does not come out of their pockets? Labor Is the Goat The public has been mystified by constantly increasing me-gers of industrial corporations, accompanied by laments from business groups that the federal anti-trust law is preventing the consolidations necessary to efficiency. But now comes an employers’ organization, the National Industrial Conference Board, with a sweeping defense of that much-attacked law. The board has been making a study of the 436 court decisions rendered under the anti-trust legislation during the last thirty-seven years. Its report upholds these laws as a protection to individual business concerns. It sees no serious barrier to mergers, but from study of decisions under the Sherman and Clayton acts, finds that “the law provides the possibility of ultimate legal vindication for every species of corporate expansion which has economic warrant.” The fact that only seven merger cases were instituted during the last decade supports the board’s contention that “restrictions upon the merging of competing enterprises are not as drastic (under the law) as those imposed upon interference with the business rights of others cr upon collusive trade agreements.” Probably the most disturbing factor of the report, which however is not stressed by the board, is the high percentage of cases in which this legislation has been used as a club against organized labor. About half of the 174 actions brought by the government to curb interference with business rights of competition were for injunctions to restrain labor organizations from striking and exercising other constitutional rights. This is the widespread and dangerous injunction evil which organized labor is fighting in courts and congress.

Old Red School House Passes The old one-room country schoolhouse, a feature of American life for many years, is disappearing, and there will be few to mourn its passing. A report from the bureau of education of the department of the interior shows that consolidated rural schools have been replacing one-teacher schools in the United States at a rapid rate during the past decade. In 1920 the forty-eight states had 189,000 one-room schools; in 1926 this number had shrunk to 161,000, and it still is going down. Advantages of the consolidated school are numerous, both from the standpoint of education and general health and comfort. The modem school bus, which can bring children from widely separated farms to the door of a distant schoolhouse in less time than it took their fathers to walk a mile, is a big factor in the change. The one-room school served the country well in its day; but the consolidated school can do the job better, and the sooner the replacement is complete, the better for all concerned. Prince Nikita, who has been receiving S6O a month as a bank clerk in Paris, has been designated heir to the fallen throne of the Romanoffs. The prince hasn’t quit at the bank yet, though. A convict wrote a book of poems while in Sing Sing. Probably had given up all hope of parole for good behavicr. Schools are offering correspondence courses in saxophone playing and now there is a reason for shooting the mailman. President-Elect Hoover’s farm produces 600,000 pounds of grapes annually. 3ut don’t be alarmed—they’ie table grapes, not wine grapes. Germany exports 50,000,000 mouth organs annually. Well, that’s something to blow about. ’ ** .

THE ENDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. TRACY SAYS: “Increasing Popularity of the City Manager Plan Suggests a Real and Apparently Settled Change in Our Attitude Toward Government, Especially in Local Affairs”

CINCINNATI, Jan. 24.—Streets are clean and in good repair, | where they were full of holes and ! clutter three years ago, while taxes have been reduced. That is one way of telling what the*city manager plan has done for Cincinnati, though, marked improvement in the police and fire departments might also be cited. Colonel C. O. Sherill, who came here after serving a long apprenticeship in Washington, D. C., deserves a large share 1 of the credit, though some belongs to the plan itself, and some more to those public spirited citizens who not only put it over, but have backed it up. Approximately three hundred communities have adopted the city manager plan, the most important among them being Cleveland and Cincinnati. Professional politicians invariably have opposed its adoption to begin with and tried to undermine it afterward. They have succeeded In only a few cases. Increasing popularity of the city manager plan suggests a real and apparently settled change in our attitude toward government, especially in local affairs. tt tt tt Taxes for Progress WHEN government was a question of personal rights as opposed to class rule it mainly was a matter of politics. Now that it has become a question of value received as opposed to graft, corruption and incompetency, it is more of a matter of business. Our forefathers ’ isualized the tax collector as an agant of pomp and aristocracy. The'’ never hoped to see the money again, except in parade and tyranny. Their problem was to rearrange the source of power. We look upon the tax collector as an agent of progress. Our problem is not to kick a pedigreed bench show breed out of the picture, but to see that we get 100 cents worth of common comfort and protection for each dollar. What our forefathers needed was the kind of leadership that could break the illysionment of class distinction and inherited privileges. What we need is the kind that can spend our cash honestly and efficiently. tt U a Murder, More Murder THIS is the sixth town I have visited since leaving New York two weeks ago. In every one I have been greeted with murder on the front page. Some people blame the newspapers, but that is ignoring the more important fact. Murder has become so common that you hardly can go anywhere in the United States without running into it; so common that newspapers can do little more than hit high spots in the local record. Wo Americans can justly claim to have outdone the rest of the world in many things. We build the tallest buildings, operate more miles of railroad and drive four times as many automobiles. In no respect, however, have we established such a wide margin of superiority over other people as in murder ,and kindred crimes. We have twenty times as many murders to each 1,000 inhabitants as England, and twice as many as Germany, France or Italy. What is worse, we accept the result complacently, devoting vastly more time to excusing or explaining it, than to the idea of correcting it. tt tt a Too Many Minor Crimes CRIME has become more a matter of business than it ever was, but its detection and punishment remains too much a matter of politics. We not only fail to deal efficiently with major crimes, but we manufacture a lot of minor crimes. If there is no civilized country on earth that had so many ?nurders, there is also none that has so many arrests for parking, left turns and selling pints of hootch. Other countries appear to be staying with the old-fashioned theory that the way to protect society is to run down and punish the really bad individual. We have invented anew one. Our idea is that mass regulation will prevent any individual from becoming bad. *0 Temperance in Law MANY people have advocated the kind of temperance legislation Chile has adopted. It deals with drunkenness, rather than with drinking, making abuse, not habit, the crime. Chileans who become intoxicated, especially while engaged in responsible work, can look for. no mercy. Barkeepers who sell to persons under 20 years of age. or to people who have already taken too much, will be dealt with severely. The ideal is temperance, not inhibition. Experience alone will show whether it can be translated into practice. Some believe we can only prevent abuse by stopping the habit appetite or business ut of which it grows. Others believe such a course only aggravates the cause, only strengthens human weakness by adding the spirit of rebellion. Meanwhile, it must be obvious to every sensible person that temperance includes more than Njoze, tobacco and gambling. Among other things, temperance includes law, especially that kind of law which interferes with others. The slogan of “you can’t” has little to do with temperance.

Not a Good Time to Start That

n~r> — |, - r ——■'TT —TnTi —

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE Left-Handedness Often Is Heritage

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygpia, the Health Magazine. ALL sorts of essays have been written as to the causes of left-handedness, attempting to correlate in on the basis of the sizes of various sections of the brain, the location of various areas, and similar anatomical reasons. Attempts have been made to correlate left-handedness with other traits, such as criminality and imbecility and there is a current jest as to the slow-mindedness of lefthanded baseball pitchers. N Herbert D. Chamberlain of Ohio State university recently studied left-handedness among all of the freshmen of the class of 1927.

Reason

NOTHING could please the country more than for Charles E. Hughes to accept the great post of secretary of state in the Hoover administration, for he is the best we have. With Hughes in the state department, Uncle Sam would have a doctor, able to keep him free from all international ills. 0 0 0 With their excessive ancestorworship, the Japanese must read with horror that Soviet Russia is collecting monkeys to use in experiments with cancer, tuberculosis, and other diseases. *OO Frank Valentino, New York barber and double of Mussolini, has been warned to stop looking like II Duce, but you can’t tell which is to blame until you know which got his face first. ' 0 0,0 There is merit in the suggestion that the country should avail itself of the experience of ex-Fresidents by making them senators for life, and it has added attractiveness in the case of Mr. Coolidge, since you can’t conceive of his ever conducting a filibuster. # 0 0 There’s nothing in the statement that Hoover is seeking to get control of the political machine, to insure his renomination in 1932, for all he has to do is to make a great President and then the politicians will eat out of his hand. o*o One is not surprised to learn that Mr. Hoover talked with Belgium, since his words go a lot farther now than those of anybody else. 0 0 0 Silvester Hendershot of Plattville, Wis., the original “Wild Man from Borneo,” who traveled with Ringling’s circus for twenty years, bewhiskered and ragged, gnawing a bone and snapping at the customers, just has died in the poorhouse and been buried in the potter’s field, all of which proves that republics are ungrateful. 000 By sentencing to death George Harsh, rich young student who killed a drug clerk during a holdup, the people of Gebrgia indicate that they do not really appreciate the gland feelers, ancestry ferrets, lunacy lizards and other psychic paraphernalia with whioh opulent defendants so successfully play horse with justice in other parts of the land.

This Date in U. S. History

Jan. 24 1859—Proposition to purchase Cuba introduced into congress. 1861—Mayor of Boston suppressed m-oUi.; of the Anti-Slavery Society. 1861—Georgia troops seized the United States arsenal. 1898— Battleship Maine ordered to Havana.

Tfrere were 2,177 entered during that year, and each of them was questioned as to left-handedness or right-handedness in his parents, his brothers and sisters. Os the students, 94 were left-handed, or 4.31 per cent. These students had 4,354 parents of whom 2,113 were right-handed mothers and 64 left-handed mothers; 2,086 were right handed fathers, and 91 left-handed fathers. Thus, 4.13 per cent of the fathers were left-handed, where only 2.94 per cent of the mothers were lefthanded. Among the sisters of the students, 3.76 per cent were lefthanded and among the parents 6.05 per cent. Thus 50 per cent more male were left-handed than female.

c .

0 0 By Frederick LANDIS

OUEEN MARIE OF RUMANIA, Queen Victoria of Spain, Queen Wilhelmina of Holland and King Haakon of Norway have promised to attend the Chicago World’s fair in 1933, but King George of England is not expected if Mayor Thompson is in the neighborhood.

Common Bridge Errors AND HOW TO CORRECT THEM BY W. W. WENTWORTH

25. FORSAKING FIE-ENTRY North (Dummy)—; 457 6 2 052 OQ6 5 4 48 5 3 West— .. Leads (? Q EastSouth (Declarer)— AA 4 3 (? None OAKJ9B7I 4A Q J

The Bidding—South bids four diamonds and all pass. Deciding the Play—West leads the queen of hearts. How should Declarer plan his campaign to make game?

Questions and Answers

You can get an answer to any ans verabie question of fact or information by writing to Frederick M. Kerby. Question Editor The Indianapolis Times’ Washington Bureau, 1322 New York avenue. Washington. D. C.. inclosing 2 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 letters are confidential. You are cordially Invited to make use of this service. How arc whales captured? Harpoons and lances were at first the only means of capturing whales, but later rifles with explosive bullets were used. The introduction of prussic acid or strychnine into the body of the whale with the harpoon or bullet has been tried and resulted in a more rapid death and consequently less danger of loss, but whalers often object to using poisons. Why does election day come on the first Tuesday after the first Monday? Two reasons are suggested for the choice of this day: One is the fact that the first day of the month is a heavy business and banking day and it would not be a good day for an election. Another is that it often took a day to reach the polls in the country districts in earlier year and voters did not want to start on

Among families in which one or both the parents were left-handed, the percentage of children leithanded was 17.34; whereas in families in which neither of the patents is left-handed, only 2 01 per cent of the children are left-handed. Obviously then there is some definite factor of inheritance associated with this form of activity. Moreover, it seems to be limited to some extent according to the sex of the parent who is the determiner. If left-handedness were not an inherited characteristic, as pointed out by Chamberlain, one would not find over 5 per cent of the children left-handed regardless of the handedness of the parent.

THE BEST WE HAVE 0 0 0 PITY THE MONKEYS' 0 0 0 WHO GOT HIS FIRST?

IF Rockefeller and Stewart want to buy some more oil stock and are not too particular, we know of several bales of it in our town that they can get at cut rate prices. 0 0 0 When the time comes that we travel by air instead of rail, we must see to it that the old reliable reception committees, sitting on trucks in small towns, are wheeled from the depot to the airport. 0 0 0 We are not surprised that lightning struck the Indiana statehouse the other day, for Indiana politics has been inviting the wrath of heaven for some time.

The Error—Declarer trumps with 2 of diamonds. The Correct Method—Declarer observes that he has complete control of the trump suit but he has two losing spade tricks and that he must therefore finesse the clubs twice to make game. For this purpose two re-entries are required in Dummy. The queen of diamonds is one reentry. Declarer trumps the first trick with 7 of diamonds instead of 2 of diamonds as the latter card will be needed for the second re-entry. Declarer now plays ace of diamonds and then queen of diamonds. The jack of clubs is now finessed; thereafter, 2 of diamonds is played. Tummy overtakes with 6 of diamonds and queen of club', finessed. Game is madeThe Principle—When Dummy is scant In re-entries play cautiously lest you overlook a re-entry. (Copyright, 1929. Ready Reference Publishing Company)

Sunday because of the church laws against travel on Sunday. When do the dry and rainy seasons occur In Ireland? April, May and June are the dryest months. There is no pronounced rainy season, but more rain usually occurs in winter. How many masts does the average schooner have? A schooner originally had only two masts, fore and aft, but now they often have three or more masts. What b the origin and meaning of the name Cleopatra? It is from two Greek words, Kleo, “to make famous,” and patris, “country.”

Daily Thought

I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more until be come whose right it is; and I will give it to him.—Ezekiel 21:27. ft 0 # INSTITUTIONS may cnunble and governments fall, but it is only that they may renew a better youth. —George Bancroft.

.JAN. 24, 1929

T/T1 ■*•■ B ' B ' opinions ex* m M pressed in this t a eolnmn *r. & those of one of America’s SEEMS and are pre- _ sented with--10 ME ment with tbe * * editorial attlBy HEYWOOD tnde of *“* paper. BROUN The Editor.

A STRONOMERS don't seem to be gifted with much imagination. They are forever declaring with great assurance that some planet or other is not inhabited, but when you pin them down it will be found that they base their assumption on the fact that the place is without water, or maybe oxygen, or adequate heat. It takes all sorts of people to make a world, including those who like the novels of Zane Grey and insist that succotash is an edible vegetable compound. The same rule might well hold good for the universe. Four or five hundred below sounds rather cold to us, but it may be that such a temperature upon the moon inspires the man in residence to do no more than write a postcard saying, “Sleeping ■ under blankets. Wish you were here.” Ana just the other day another astronomer announced blandly that while there might be life upon some of the far-flung stars, humanity represented the highest achievement up to date. How can he tell that? I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Mars is wholly without tabloid newspapers and radio renditions of “You’re the Cream in My Coffee.” 0 0* And Princeton OTILL another expresses the belief that the people of that planet are at least eight feet tall. This seems to me decidedly unlikely; for if it were so, I am sure that generous hearted alumni would arrange for some of them to come to Yale to receive scholarships and play tackle. A professor in the middle west takes quite the opposite attitude. He thinks the Martians must be little fellows, so that they can move about with rapidity to meet the exigencies of the changing seasons. “The Martian animal,” he says, “is probably a fur-bearing one, equipped by nature to live in the wastes around the polar snow-caps. “It probably would be amphibious, something like our seal, enabling it to swwim along with the streams of icy water melted from the snowcaps.” If there is anything in this theory our efforts to signal Mars are tragic as well as futile. 4 Here we are shooting dots and dashes at the little furry creatures when their only interest is that we should throw them a fish. To live on Mars seems to me an unfortunate break for any seal. On that planet there can’t be much of a future for amphibians. Here an ambitious seal may go far and dream at night of bookings on the Loew circuit He may even play the Palace. * tt it tt Seals? Good World X7'ES, for seals this is unquestion- -*• ably the best of all possible planets. A highly trained seal can look any furrier in the eye and tell him to go to hell. It must be thrilling to an animal whose fur was at one time its only fortune to become by dent of education a self-sup-porting economic unit. In some respects, our world offers a better adjustment for seals than for any other living beings upon this earth. Among men the Babbitts, on the whole, do better in a material way than the artists. The artists pick up crumbs from the business man’s table or else they starve in garrets. At least, they used to starve in garrets until the business man came along and remodeled the garrets and raised the rent. Now in the seal community these conditions are precisely reversed. Survival is difficult except for such seals as possess unmistakenable talents. The seal shooters, or fishers or trappers (I’m just a shade uncertain about the process), set out for the banks and suddenly the mist rises off the angry green sea. On the black rocks there is exposed to the gaze of predatory man a seal community. The hunters make a rush and isolate a crosssection of this community. Any seal observed in such ordinary pursuits is commerce, political leadership or flirtation is promptly killed. His skin is more valuable than his living intelligence. 0 0 0 A Dunce Cap BUT HERE and there in the seal group the explorers find one or two engaged in highly specialized industries. Upon one rock there sits an inspired amphibian bouncing a large rubber ball up and down with the end of his nose. Now and again he misses but each time re returns to the performance, having learned something from his failure. His technique is plastic and he will go far. “Boys,” says the leader of the trappers, “that little son of a gun’s an artist.” But we have traveled a long distance away from Mars. My point is this: On a planet populated entirely by seals there would be no audience for performing ones. Far from paying to see some peculiarly talented fellow bounce a ball on the end of his nose,, the amphibian community would probably stone him. We know by now that there is atmosphere around Mars, plant life and water. It is fair to assume that there must also be geraniums, lemonade and 100 per centers. And naturally there is revoltWhere there’s life there’s art. A few seals of Mars go in furtively for balancing lighted sticks and playing cymbals with the flippers. But this they do solely to express themselves and without the hope of gain. Only on this earth, a planet much abused, is it possible for a seal to create sheer beauty and get as his reward not only soul satisfaction, but scraps of fish as well. (Cop>iight, 1939, lor Tbe time*)