Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 221, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 February 1929 — Page 4

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Relieving Judges and Contempt Every citizen who still believes that liberty is defined by the Bill of Eights will be interested in a legislative maesure which is being hurried blythely toward passage. Its title suggests that there is need to relieve the Judges ol the supreme court from their arduous labors. It proposes the simple expedient of denying tc citizens the right of appeal to the highest court in certain classes of cases unless the judges themselves permit such appeals. Before any such measure Is passed and its necessity determined, the legislature might look into the comparative records of the supreme and appellate courts as to the number ot cases handled. But whether the court is overworked or not, the measure as it stands is well calculated to set up a reign of judicial tyranny in the state. One of the classes of cases which, if the measure basses, can be appealed only by consent of the judges, is that of contempt of lower courts. What will happen if this measure passes can be easily forecast, not imagined, by any one who has followed political history in this state. Judges would probably send to the penal iarm fmy one who dared to criticise their decisions or their actions and appeals might depend upon political geography. The courts in this state have consistently reached out for more power to punish critics. The highest court in a recent case definitely ruled that truth is no defense. That leaves the judges sitting very pretty. It permits judges who need criticism most to terrify and jail any courageous souls who dare to protest in the name of justice. It is true that appeals to the highest court In contempt cases have netted the unfortunates little in the past. For the most part the judges stand solidly together in contempt matters and the higher courts seldom look beyond the technical procedure into the substantial justice of contempt sentences by the lower courts. But the right of appeal should exist, as something of a deterrent to politicians who may happen to garner a robe of ermine as the reward of their labors in conventions and elsewhere in behalf of the party. That the supreme court is far behind with its docket is well known and furnishes the occasion for the measure. Evidently it has not occurred to any lawmaker n> delve into the cause for the traffic congestion in tins court. The people know that many cases stay there for months and years before any decision is rendered. There are many notable cases concerning which the court has not yet given the final word. Among them is the Stephenson case, a matter of me public importance beyond the effect upon the famous convict. There was a lapse of several months between the closing of the issues and the filing of a new fanglc-d writ which temporarily bars decision. It will be remembered that the court took many months to discover whether the Rev. E. S. Shumaker, of the Anti Saloon League was actually in contempt (f its own judges, months in which elections occurred and politicians wondered what attitude the dry czar would take. There are the cases of Mayor Duvall, convicted in the lower courts, and of Klinck, who dealt in the fcdefal courts in forged affidavits and false notaryseals. One of the guarantees of the constitution is speedy justice. Long delays in final decisions can not work otherwise than for disrespect lor all law. With this condition in mind, some legislator might take the trouble to count the decisions rendered by the supreme court in the past two years and compare the number of opinions with those written by the appellate judges. It is just possible that It may not be necessary at all to curtail the rights of citizens who find themselves under sentence to a prison farm by som judicial autocrat Certainly a review by the nighest court, as a right, is not too small a check end curb to put upon judges of the Dearth type who occasionally get into office. Miscasting Coolidge Coolidge, we read in a New York newspaper, may be named to the supreme court when the aged Justice Holmes retires. We don’t believe it. News writers are having a hard time predicting what Coolidge will do when he goes out of the White House on March 4, so they may be pardoned lor ballyhooing the supreme court possibility'. It is always difficult to dispose of an ex-President in a dignified manner and it is even harder in Coolidge’s case. For most presidents have had a professional career before they entered politics, but Coolidge has been in politics and only in politics since college. He is a lawyer or was long ago. But he is no more a jurist—and douotless would not claim to be than any private in the a* my is a military strategist and a general. The argument of those who are said to be pressing President-Elect Hoover to find a soft seat for Coolidge on the highest bench in the land is not, of course, on grounds of legal eminence. They think Coolidge should be rewarded. Not that he be rewarded for personal services to the party or to Hoover. No one knowing Hoover would be stupid enough to put it on that basis. Hoover has no personal obligations to Coolidge. and the Presi-dent-elect is not the kind to use the supreme court for party rewards, in any case. The idea, rather, is that Coolidge by virtue of his service at the White House is deserving of a gift from the nation, and that the court offers the only one equal to the dirnity of an ex-President. What nonsense! What an embarrassing position in which to put Coolidge! What a misconception of American institutions! The presidency of the United States is its own reward. The American people by thus honoring one of their number as chief executive incur no debt in perpetuity to him. Such a suggestion is insulting to them and to him. There is an analogy' in the case of Taft. Taft had obtained recognition as a jurist before he was President, and was a leader of his profession after leaving the White House. • This is no disparagement of Coolidge. Asa matter of fact, he probably has been a better President than raft. Despite Coolidges many reactionary policies

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and his silence in face of the worst cabinet scandals in our history, he has much to his credit. He has tried, not always successfully, to restrain imperialistic and militaristic tendencies of the state, war and navy department. In a period of political pork barrels and national extravagance, he has helped to achieve a balanced federal budget, tax reduction, and rapid retirement of the public debt. But what has all that to do with the supreme court? Whatever else the American people may disagree about, surely they can all agree that the best jurist in the land, if he can be found when the time comes, will be only an inadequate substitute for Justice Holmes. That Salt Creek Probe With the end of the present session of congi in sight, involving also the end of the authority conferred upon it by the Norris resolution to investigate leases in the Salt Creek oil field of Wyoming, the senate public lands committee has not considered the evidence fully or arrived at any decision. Although a special attorney was appointed to obtain evidence on the bona tides of titles in Salt Creek to submit to the committee at the short session, the report has not been made. An attempt was made to lay the report before the committee in oral form, but the committee wisely decided that it did not have the time to wade through the voluminous mass of evidence and that it was the duty of the special counsel to summarize it in written form and report on it with recommendations. Granted that this report may be forthcoming within the next few days, but a short time then remains for consideration of a matter involving the legal rights of hundreds of lessees, the investment of millions of dollars and the future of one or America’s richest and oldest oil fields. Whether the job has been bungled or simply is too big to be handled oy the special counsel in the time alloted, obviously can not now be disposed of hastily. The senate should continue the investigation and not permit It to die, as desired by interests opposed to the probes, merely by lapse of authority with the ending of congress March 4. Slavery Slavery is one of the words dropped from our current vocabulary. We come across such phrases as “slaves of fashion,” “slaves of drink,” or “wage slaves,” but we are apt to think of human slavery as relegated to the history books. Is isn’t. Systems of involuntary servitude and compulsory labor still art itr -osed upon natives of several Africaq states by white rulers, despite reform efforts of the League of Nations. Now we learn from the Manchester Guardian, the great British liberal daily, that a form of slavery persists in the British crown colony of Hong Kong. The local name of the system is “Mui Tsai.” The Anti-Mui Tsai Society of Hong Kong gives the following comparison between a Mui Tsai and a slave: “A slave is bought with money; a Mui Tsai also is bought with money. A slave is not paid for labor; a Mui Tsai also is not paid for labor. A slave can be resold; a Mui Tsai also can be resold.” In 1922 a public conference in London called on the British government to formulate a “practical scheme to prevent the buying and selling of human beings.” This reform had been agitated since 1880, when the lord chief justice had declared the Mui Tsai system slavery and a violation of British law. In response to the 1922 conference, Winston Churchill, speaking for the government in parliament, promised to end the system completely within a year. But it is now charged that these young girl slaves and others, who were bringing S4O to S6O a head in 1922, are in 1929 worth as high as $l5O, even at the age of 4. The chairman of the Anti-Mui Tsai Society, Yeung Shui-Chuen, is quoted in a letter to the Manchester Guardian as announcing: “According to private estimates, there are about 10,000 Mui Tsai in Hong Kong, and according to the investigation of some six years ago there were in Hong Kong and on the mainland a total of 8,653.” New biographies are aimed at the debunking of Buffalo Bill. Those old yarns about the plainsman probably were Just a lot of bear stories.

naeid Dietz on Science ■ ! War Helped Brain Study L -No. 270

SOME of the most Important studies of the human brain have been accomplished since the World war. During the war, many soldiers received bullet wounds in the brain. By means of the X-ray, the exact location of the wound could be determined. By studying the effect of the wound on the patient, it has been possible to correlate certain actions with certain parts of the brain. The most interesting piece of work has been done by two Frenchmen, Doctors Marie and Foix. Dr. Louis Karnosh, head of the neuro-psychiatric division of city hospital, states that their work has proved of immense value to the brain surgery clinics of the world. These two Frenchmen localized five tracts in what is called the great language area. This is the section of the left hemisphere of the cerebrum. One area previously was known as Brocca’s area, after the scientist who first mapped it. This area controls the act of speaking. Injury to this area results in inability of the patient to formulate words. Another area controls the sense of position and form which resides in the finger tips. A person with an injury to this area, for example, can not remove a match from a matchbox unless he is looking at the box at the time. A third area is the word image area. Injury to it results in what is known as word blindmss. The per-son-still can use his eyes. He still can speak and understand speech. But he no longer is able to read. A fourth area controls word concept through hearing. This person can still read, but he can not understand the spoken w ord. All language sounds to him like some strange tongue he has never heard. A fifth area is a sort of clearing zone for both the third and fourth. Injury to it results in the person’s inability to understand either the written or the spoken word. Similar sudies have been made on other parts of the brain. Gradually, the brain specialist is accumulating a vast amount of information which in time will be invaluable to psychologists and philosophers. In time these studies will solve many of the so-called mysteries of the mind.

. THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. TRACY SAYS: “Contrary to the notion of many city folks, this mechanical age has done much for farming

DENVER, Colo., Feb. 2.—There were 167 marriages and 116 divorces in Denver during the month of January. Locally, the record seems to be regarded as good, since Cupid nosed out the court by a majority of fiftyone, but it makes such suppdsedly up to date communities as New York and Chicago look rather hickish. So, too, it is quite suggestive with regard to the supposedly benign influence of Judge Ben B. Lindsey. The impression prevails that his long reign as head of the court of domestic relations and as an unofficial healer of domestic sores had brought Denver a degree of marital bliss unknown to other towns. It is somewhat shocking to learn that Denver has about two divorces for every three marriages, while the national average is about one to six. tt tt * Cruel Fashion Board THE fashion board of the National Association of Merchmt Tailors is cruel. It has decreed that the “well dressed” man must have at least twenty suits, eight overcoats, a dozen hats and twenty-four pairs of shoes, not to mention the neckties, cuff links and suspenders necessary to create just the right kind of ensemble in each particular case and for each particular occasion. That not only lets plumbers and college professors out, but even us newspaper men. As one of the latter, I not only petition, but protest. Can’t the fashion board be a little more liberal for humanity’s sake? Can’t it admit that one fairly good suit, with an extra pair of pants, has some value, and that those of us who can afford little more are not necessarily damned for all eternity? Man’s Producing Power THERE are only 14,000 individual wheat growers in Montana today, where there were 35,000 ten years ago, but they are producing more and better wheat. Contrary to the notion of many city folks, this mechanical age has done much for farming, especially in those flat sections of the country where land can be obtained in large plots and where machinery has sufficient leeway to make it practical. One can not ride over the great prairies which form such a vast portion of the mid-west without realizing what a tremendous change the tractor, reaper, six-gang plow, electrically equipped barn, individual ice plant and other similar innovations have brought about. Though not so much as in other lines, perhaps, the producing power a man has gone up mightily on the farm. tt tt tt Sign of the Times THE Colorado & Southern Railroad wants to abandon its Wa-tertown-Leadville branch, which serves a few mining towns, some reports and small farming districts up in the mountains west of Denver. Farmers and tourists have gone in for automotive transportation. What they want is a good highway. Many of them prefer comparatively poor roads to travel by rail. One hotel keeper, testifying before the federal examiner, said that twenty out of the twenty-three families who boarded with him last summer came by auto, while two successful farmers declared that they could do much better with trucks than the railroad. Mine owners, who deal in heavier stuff, still need freight cars, with big engines to do the pulling. Discontinuance of the railroad would virtually ruin them. Recognizing their need, the Colorado & Southern has offered to turn the Watertown-Leadville branch over to the mine owners, or the communities which it serves, practically free of charge, with sufficient rolling stock to keep it going. The mine owners say they can nm it without too much of a deficit, providing they do not have to pay interest on the capital investment and are not taxed excessively. All of which is very interesting, not only from a local standpoint, but because it is a sign of the times. tt tt u Creative Intelligence AUTOMOTIVE transportation is cutting into the railroad business, especially with regard to short haul freight and passenger travel. A readjustment is being forced all along the line. Nor is such a situation peculiar to railroads. In every branch of commerce and industry, we are dancing to the tune of innovation. Business can no longer settle down to routine ways. It must keep on its toes if it would succeed, so must government education and every other form of activity and enterprise. Those who are thinking of 10,000ton cruisers as the sine qua non of security should take this new and all-important factor of progress into account. More and more we are coming to depend on the creative ability of human intelligence.

Daily Thought

Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?—Galatians 4:16. n * a Truth is tough, it wm not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick, it around all day, like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.—Oliver Wendell Holmes. Who invented the clarinet? Johann Christopher Denner of Nuremberg is credited with the invention about 1690.

Putting in a False Background

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE Drug Often Has Part in Death Mystery

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine;. IN this period when mystery stories seem to be among the-most popular forms of entertainment, physicians look back at past experiences of their own or those known to the profession with the realization that modern scientific medical diagnosis is a great adventure in the solution of mystery. Within recent years a drug has been discovered which when taken internally will cause falling out of all of the hair. Other drugs are known which produce strange colorations of the skin or of the eye; still others which produce significant changes in the blood. Not long ago a woman in Austria began to poison her husband in

Reason

THE human race is noble when some crisis summons to the surface the best that’s in it, but it is very cheap in its daily cut-throat competitions. When Chief Officer Manning of the ship America called for volunteers to go in his boat to rescue the Italians, every member of the crew volunteered, though it was an even bet they would go to the bottom, but if the members of that crew had been the rivals of those Italians in the daily battle of life, they would have descended to the conventional depravities to plunder them. The only real way to civilize the human race is to turn life into some kind of an endless rescue expedition. tt a st Anybody can get some institution of learning to make him a doctor or a bachelor of something, and anybody can get a Governor to make him an artificial colonel, but there’s one distinction you can’t buy. It is membership in the Caterpillar Club and you have to save your life by making a parachute jump from a falling plane to get into it. Lindy is the most distinguished member, having made three wild leaps with the big umbrella. tt tt n The people of Afghanistan were unreasonable to rebel because their queen wished to remove her veil and they had no right to do it when th 6 king wanted to make them discard their owing robes, but when he tried to make them wear derby hats, they had a right to go to any length to defend themselves. tt a This bandit who robbed the Indiana basketball treasury has millions on his trail. Let the highwayman rob banks, gas stations and stores and we are indifferent, but let him lay one finger on a great national sport and we will raise as if the invader stepped upon our soil!

Times Readers Voice Views

Editor Times —In referring to the World war state bonus, there are just a few points that Arthur Gresham has overlooked. Hundreds of ex-service men in the state are down, and out, sick, and many of them have families who need help Last summer while traveling through the state I came in contact with many ex-soldiers out of work seeking employment. I asked those who were HI if they were drawing compensation. All of them laughed and said, “There is no chance.” The veteran's bureau now has 90 per cent of the veteran’s insurance certificates. I think Mr. Gresham is a poor comrade, for opposing the proposed bonus bill. A TIMES READER.

June by adding to his food a rat poison which owed its virtue to the hair removing drug that has been mentioned. After a month the man was taken to a hospital, and he did not get any better until all food brought to him from outside the hospitr l was denied him. He was discharged from the hospital on Sept. 1, but returned in a worse condition and died Sept. 27. A medica-legal inquiry was made, but it was not until two years after his death that the exact cause was determined. It then appeared that his wife had given him large doses of the drug at intervals of about three months. After each dosage he suffered with cramps in the stomach and abdomen, some retching and vomiting. Swelling of the ankles was so se-

m <#n v,: ' / / y

By Frederick LANDIS

SWITZERLAND has opened a high school for dogs, where they are taught to guide the blind. We often have wondered why the dogs didn’t open a school and teach human beings gratitude and fidelity. tt tt it While Great Britain speaks beautifully about her affection for the United States, she goes right along increasing the fortifications of Bermuda and the only possible usefulness of such a military and naval base would be against us. We should trade the Philippines to John Bull for his possessions in the West Indies and elsewhere in our neighborhood.

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

33. FAILURE TO ESTABLISH SECOND RE-ENTRY North (Dummy)— AJ 4 2 8 4 3 /<> K 8 5 4 *532 West— _ , Leads (? J LastSou I h (Declarer)— *A 5 3 AQ OAQ 9 6 *KQ 7 6 The Bidding—South bids notrump and all pass. Deciding the Play—West leads jack of hearty and the trick is won with queen of hearts. How should Declarer play to insure game? The Error —Declarer leads ace of diamonds; then he pjays 6 of diamonds and overtakes with king of diamonds. He then finesses queen of clubs and now is at a loss as to how to finesse king of clubs. The Correct Method —To make game Declarer must make two club tricks- To establish the two clubs by finessing, Declarer requires two re-entries in Dummy. He has one re-entry in king of diamonds and the other re-entry will in all probability be found in 8 of diamonds. Declarer should first play 9 of diamonds and overtake with king of diamonds. Then he should finesse the club suit with queen of clubs and thereafter play ace of diamonds, and ■

vere that at one time the condition was diagnosed as rheumatism. Suddenly all of the hair came out of his head and the explanation given was the severity of his illness. After the death of the man small amounts of arsenic were found in his body, so that an intense medicolegal investigation was undertaken, which resulted ultimately in the determination of the fact that the unusual drug which caused all of his hair to fall out was responsible for the man’s death. The drug had been given not with any idea of its effects on the hair, but because it happened to be the chief constituent of a rat poison. The criminal probably would not have used this drug had she been aware of its specific action on the hair.

NOBLE AND CHEAP CATERPILLAR CLUB DERBY REBELLION

THE Japanese adopted our jury system some time ago, but their litigants do not like it. If they can get a crop of levelheaded, honest judges, they will do well to pass up the jury system, as has been done in the United States by all but the guilty. tt tt tt Catharine BreshkovSkaya, grandmother of the Russian revolution, just has celebrated her eighty-fifth birthday, and she celebrated it in Czechoslovakia, for her horrible little grandchild drove her out of Russia. g tt tt The two factions of the Republican party of Wisconsin are fighting like savages, over the effort of the La Follette wing to send the Governor to the jjenitentairy. Being a Governor is a suspicious circumstance, one naturally assumes when he should be sent, but he may be innocent. Nothing in America is as vicious as a factional fight within a party.

queen of diamonds. After that sos diamonds is led and overtaken with 8 of diamonds. Finessing king of clubs will now enable the Declarer to frame. The Principle When holding eight cards of a suit evenly divided, two re-entries may often be established if blocking is avoided (Copyright. 1929, Ready Reference Publishing Cos.)

This Date in U. S. History

Feb. 2 1653 —New Amsterdam (later New York) incorporated. 1865—Peace conferences between Lincoln and Confederate commissioners failed. 1897 —Capitol of Pennsylvania, at Harrisburg, burned. What does the expression “au revoir” mean? An idiomatic translation of the French expression is “’till we meet again.” How tall is Red Grange, the football player, and how much does he weigh? He is five feet and one-half inches tall and weighs 180 pounds. What is the value in American money of thirty shekels of silver in biblical days? About S2O. It was the price of a slave. _ _ *a *ai(Lt4

FEB. 2, 1929

IT SEEMS TO ME tt By HEYWOOD BROUN

Idea* ill opinion •*- pressed IP this 0o Ia an or* those of oao of America's most interesting writers and are presented without retard s their agreement with the editorial attitude es this paper. The Editor.

BEFORE I was taken to Palm Beach I never saw many rich people. Not close to, at any rate. This is not intended to suggest that your humble columnist was mobbed by attentive millionaires at the Florida resort. No social triumphs will be recorded here. Nor is this because of any excess of modesty, but only through lack of material. Miss Peggy Hopkins Joyce did ask me to come to tea on Tuesday, but her intentions can not have been serious, as she sail and for Cuba on a Monday. However, there was at least the privilege of watching the wealthy stripped down to their bathing togs, and I must admit that I was impressed. Things do not look particularly bright for the immediate coming of the social revolution. In the France of Robespierre and the Russia of Lenin the proletariat could sweep into power because the aristocrats were a feeble lot, likely to fall into pieces if exposed to any gust of wind. tt tt tt Tuck in Stomachs OUR captains of industry arc more sinewy. They strip extremely well. All cartoons picture the capitalist as a corpulent old gentleman with dollar marks upon his checkered suit. And that is not the type at all. Big business teday is run by lean men with athletic shoulders and the pouch gone completely out of the style. If the class war ever gets down to a hand-to-hand struggle I must regretfully admit that my money will go upon the present rulers. Naturally, I am not naive enough to suppose that the economic structure of America is ever going to be decided by driving contests or wrestling matches, but there is some significance in the fact that wealth and self-indulgence are no longer synonymous. There used to be a belief that big fortunes constitute no menace because the heirs could be depended upon to drink and gamble away the profits within a couple of generations. That is no longer likely. Even at bootleg prices the fortunes of today are far too vast to be squandered away in any such fashion. The corks can not pop fast enough to keep pace with dividends. But aside from. this fact, there is evidence that moneyed men now recognize a sense of responsibility unknown to the financial leaders of the last generation. They keep their bodies trim and possibly they are also aware of the necessity of warding off fat from the brainy tissues. Indeed, I am by no means sure that the inefficiency of both liberalism and radicalism in America is not in some degree dependent on the fact that both movements are somewhat corrupted by the fumes of beer and tobacco. Men who gather in back rooms to argue into the early hours, over manifold steins, about the wrongs of the workingman are not likely to accomplish very much that is practical. Although a firm believer in the theory that the economic structure eventually must be modified to permit a more equitable distribution of wealth, I am by no means eager to see our Socialists sweep into power within the next few years. The party does not now contain men anything like as capable as those in the ranks of the enemy. Since no man can divorce his political views entirely from self-interest, I must admit that I would rather b3 a wage slave under the administration of an Owen Young than take my chances under the presidency of Comrade Berger. Debs was one of the finest spirits this land has ever known and I voted for him repeatedly, even though I should have hated to see him bewildered by the executive functions which would have descended upon him if elected. Os course somebody may say, “How about Warren Harding?” To be sure, he was not fit. Few smaller men have ever gone to the White House. Asa mater of fact, America of today is not ruled by its elected representatives but by its business men. tt tt u For the Exploiter MY first shock as to the capacities of the worker came some years ago during a yacht race. Among the spectators on the United States destroyer was a newspaper owner, who was my boss, and a walking delegate of the Longshoremen’s Union. Somebody introduced them saying, “I think you representatives of capital and labor ought to meet,” They adjourned to a cabin and drank highballs. At the end of two hours both men came up on deck again and my boss was about as usual. The longshoreman had to be assisted in order to remain on his feet. Even though my boss was a member of the exploiting class and paid me far less than I thought I deserved. I could not help feeling just a little proud of him for the first time. If our present economic structure lasts out my lifetime and yours, we are definitely in daiger of developing an aristocracy of wealth. It is still possible for me 3 to come up from the ranks into executive positions, but increasingly difficult. The rich man’s son has much more than an even chance to step into his father’s shoes. With great shrewdness he has been trained for his job and with few exceptions he keens in training. They act is if our captains of industry could be bowled away with one puff of, at the most. two. That’s not so. These men are not pushovers. If we Socialists warn to make the world over we’ve gc to pull our own belts in, grow lean and hard, and make up our minds that there is going to be a gruelling battle. 1 Copyright, I*B#. lor The Timor)